Solberg Confirms Xsara for Rally Finland

Although Petter Solberg revealed, prior to Rally Greece, that he would change cars before Rally Finland due to his 2006-spec Citroen Xsara's poor performances this season – even though 2 podium appearances hardly seem like a poor performance in 2009 – the Norwegian decided to stick with his car for yet another event.

The former Subaru driver tested a variety of cars throughout the duration of the ongoing season, including a 2008-spec Impreza and a Peugeot 307. The latter was given the highest chances of replacing the Xsara in the last 4 rounds of the 2009 season, as the latter obviously lacked the speed to fight against the championship's big guns in the last few rallies.

Ahead of a rally which such great speeds like the one in Finland – scheduled at the end of July – Solberg decided to stay with the Xsara, despite confirming a few days ago that either he'll switch cars or withdraw from Rally Finland's entry list.

“If I can't compete in Finland properly there's no point. We have tested some cars now, and it turns out that it is this old Xsara that works best for us. Now we just have to do whatever is possible to get some power out of it before Finland,” said Solberg, according to wrc.com.

The Norwegian has so far contested in 7 of the first 8 rallies of the 2009 World Rally Championship, scoring points on 5 occasions. He is currently 6th overall in the drivers' classification, level on points with Ford's works driver Jari-Matti Latvala.