WRC: Pirelli and Solberg fight on in Cyprus...

Limassol, May 14: The Pirelli-equipped Subaru Impreza WRC2004 of Petter Solberg has ended leg one of the Cyprus Rally in 11th position, having led for the first three stages. Solberg lost the lead of the Cyprus Rally (round five of the World Rally Championship) following an engine overheating problem on stage four. His young team mate Mikko Hirvonen had an excellent opening day on only his second visit to Cyprus, finishing leg one in sixth. Solberg, who won in New Zealand three weeks ago, led the rally from the first stage, setting two fastest times over the rocky roads. But some dust in the radiator caused his engine to lapse onto safe mode and Solberg lost time. However, the car made it back to service and the Norwegian is confident of another strong performance tomorrow. Both Petter and Mikko chose Pirelli's durable XR3 tyres for today's stages which were hot, dry and abrasive. Both drivers cut the tyres in the morning in order to disperse loose gravel, but this was less necessary for the second run in the afternoon. Each of them was happy with the performance of the tyres in the hot and rough conditions. Pirelli's Motorsport Director Paul Hembery commented: "We were delighted with the tyre performance during the morning which again demonstrated our extremely high level on rough gravel. A disappointing end to the day, but we're confident that Petter will be able to continue and score points." The second leg of Rally Cyprus takes in six more special stages tomorrow, making a total competitive distance of 109 kilometres. The finish is on Sunday 16 May at 1400. RALLY CYPRUS - Classification after 6 stages 1 Gronholm-Rautiainen Peugeot 307 WRC 1h57m24.6s 2 Rovanpera-Pietilainen Peugeot 307 WRC +10.7 3 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsara WRC +20.1 4 Martin-Park Ford Focus WRC +21.0 5 Sainz-Marti Citroen Xsara WRC +26.7s 6 Hirvonen-Lehtinen Subaru Impreza WRC +2m39.1s 7 Tuohino-Aho Ford Focus WRC +4m19.5s 8 Panizzi-Panizzi Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +4m21.9s 11 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impreza WRC +9m32.4 Leg 2: Saturday 15 May, 6 special stages Finish: Sunday 16 May, 14.00 (18 stages in total)