Personally i don`t rate Chris Atkinson as a driver that can get you many podium finishes and a lot of valuable manufacturers points, i am a fan of Petter Solberg as a person but for me he makes far to many mistakes and the team seem to have gone backwards since 2003.

I know the current car is not the best as Subaru need a smaller more nimble car which is in the pipeline but Petter Solberg has made a lot of mistakes over the last few years and he is not finishing enough rallies. Even if he finished around 5th it would still be valuable manufacturers points rather having a no finish due to driver error.

I like Marcus Gronholm`s approach, he is a very solid, reliable and dependable driver that is a great judge of pace and he even gets the good results on the rallies that he has openly admitted he doesn`t like such as the Monte.

Dani Sordo is a good up and coming talent and i think he would make a good number 2, i can`t see that Chris Atkinson will be part of the team for 2008 as he is more often than not well off the pace and Petter needs some more consistent finishes otherwise i can see the team possibly losing patience.

Any opinion`s ?

I think Petter has been unlucky, but still my choice, Subaru should never have let Nikko Hervenon [spelling] go, he is the man to watch.
Perhaps the new impreza will make a differance.

They kept Atkinson on because of trying to improve sales of Scoobies in Australia I think. It can't be becuase of his results last season, they were pretty poor.

I think we are still to see Atkinson at his best. He is still relatively new in my eyes.

Hirvonen was just as bad, if not worse when he was at Subaru. He leaves, gets a couple more years experience and now he is "the one to watch" setting some great times and scoring good points.

Atkinson was setting some good times last weekend in Mexico. He was 2nd at the end of day 2 if I remember correctly. Ok, so he couldn't hold on to that and ended 5th. At least he is finishing at the moment, more than Solberg seems to be able to do. In fact Atkinson is higher in the drivers points table than Solberg.

I still like Solberg, I just think he is trying too hard now and making mistakes. Doesn't help that he seems to have had some terrible luck when it comes to reliability, reminds me of Gronholms last season with Peugeot.

They kept Atkinson on because of trying to improve sales of Scoobies in Australia I think. It can't be becuase of his results last season, they were pretty poor.

Subaru Australia paid Prodrive/Subaru for a two/three year contract for Atkinson to promote wrc in oz as it has a smaller profile than the domestic championship.

With the looks of the documetary I watched on Discovery last night about the teams performance in Sweden I think the drivers are the least of their problems ;)

With the looks of the documetary I watched on Discovery last night about the teams performance in Sweden I think the drivers are the least of their problems ;)

Hopefully, that should be were the last of their problems, not are etc.

DG

I just thought i would bounce this back up to see if anyone has a further opinion, i stand by what i originally said about Patter Solberg. Yeh we all know that the car is far from being perfect to challenge the likes of Citroen and Ford but Petter is seriously off the pace regardless of the car and even Atkinson finished well ahead of him last time.

Personally i think Petter has lost the edge and Subaru as well as having a new car next year need 2 young drivers to take them forward, what about a combination of Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo ? Mikko Hirvonen is a great talent and Sordo has done well to be standing 4th in the drivers championship after having a fairly unreliable car this year that has let him down on a few occasions.

There was something in Autosport the other week about Solberg sniffing around Citroen for a drive next year
Also that Subaru are sniffing around Latvala for a drive.
Maybe just the usual thing teams take a look at other drivers but you cant say something needs to be done over at Banbury

There was something in Autosport the other week about Solberg sniffing around Citroen for a drive next year
Also that Subaru are sniffing around Latvala for a drive.
Maybe just the usual thing teams take a look at other drivers but you cant say something needs to be done over at Banbury

I don't know how water tight these contracts are but Solberg has signed with Subaru until 2009.

chris as just signed a two year deal today so looks like him and petter will be there till the end of 2009.

Not so sure, I think that if Marcus goes at the end of the year, we may just see Petter in a focus next year...

Nikko Hervenon

You must be a huuuuge WRC fan! :rolleyes:

I think Petter has stalled and needs a change of some sort, I just hope he doesn't go to Ford :D

SWRT gave a statement denying that Petter was off when it went round about Petter & Citroen.
The rumours are now about Ford & SWRT are quiet this time!!

Atkinson has a new 2 year deal.
Pons has a contract for the rest of this season & all next,
(on current form, his brief must be to get rid of the 06/07 **** cars).
I'm not sure how tight Petter's contract is, or whether he would just walk. Paul Howarth really does not like him (to be polite), so I would not blame him if he just walked away.
Malcolm Wilson was really hurt when Petter got out of his contract last time.
He had invested in Petter & had him staying at his house for a while.
All said he is a very good business man who would not cut of his nose to spite his face. I think he would want assurances from Petter & also not pay to much (he lost a lot on Petter last time).

This could make Atkinson the number 1 & Pons 2.

On the up side, there should be a Brit in a Subaru again.
Here's to 2008, glasses raised for Chris Meeke.

He had a very good run in GB 2 years ago & has been lightening in Ireland this year.

So probably a 3 car team or if Petter stays maybe a B team, like the VK Stobart.

One thing is for sure, us British fans need someone to cheer after the last 2 years.

Tomorrow will be Beef's 2nd anniversary, 25th November will be Burnsies and now with Colin, my thoughts go out to his family.

Brits in Subaru's make World Champions, so lets have Guy Wilks in one as well.

Fit wings to them and get Colin & Burnsie back ;)