Solberg hinted prior to Rally Australia this year that he'll only commit to Citroen or Ford – at the time, the final decision was yet to be made – if he'll have a championship winning car from either of the two car makers for the 2010 season.
Once he picked the C4, he is now convinced he can have a shot at the title, but only with some further support from Citroen. In addition, he needs to evaluate the level of performance of the C4 on gravel too, following his successful outing in Spain. Consequently, he'll take the C4 WRC on the roads of Great Britain, two weeks from now.
“The car next year depends on how the C4 goes on gravel and the size of support from Citroen. If I can't get the full support for the championship then there's no point. I am working on that now. We will see, if there's any doubt about that support, then I won't go. But if they will support me, I will go for Citroen,” said Solberg, according to Autosport.
In response, Citroen's boss Olivier Quesnel insisted that the French manufacturer would have nothing against Solberg challenging their leading driver Sebastien Loeb for the world title, as his potential wins would not interfere with the manufacturers' fight in 2010.
“He's a customer. It's good for rallying to have Petter there, he is a world champion and he can win – he has the talent to win rallies again. Petter has bought a car for next year. The deal is that he has the car now, but it's next year that's important to us because we need to make some money. He has one car and enough spares to build a second car,” added Quesnel.
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