SOLBERG BOUNCES BACK.(Competition)

Petter Solberg (Subaru) took his second FIA World Rally victory of the season, beating Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) and Harri Rovanpera (Peugeot) to win the Acropolis rally, round six of the championship. Loeb leads Solberg 43 to 38 in the points standings.

Reigning world champion Solberg was in a class of his own during the event's first two days-five stage wins in a row helped him to build a lead of well over one minute. Brake failure in Saturday's closing stages, combined with a 30-second penalty for lack of mud flaps on his Subaru, knocked Solberg's advantage down to just under 30 seconds for the start of the final day.

Solberg's overall success was aided by the very un-Greek-like conditions that greeted the teams for the event. The rain-washed stages were damp for the opening two legs of the rally-conditions that suited the Pirelli tires used by the Subaru team.

"It's fantastic,'' Solberg said. "It's been a hard rally, and a tough fight right from the start, but to get this result after the disappointment in Cyprus [where an overheated engine cost him nine minutes] feels very good. Everything worked perfectly today. There were no problems at all. The car is incredible and everyone is working so well. I can't thank the team enough. It seems that, for now, anything is possible.''

Happy so far

McLaren was encouraged by the first test of its new MP4-19B Formula One car at Silverstone (AW, June 7). The car's monocoque has been sufficiently modified so that it required a new FIA crash test, and rear aerodynamics are significantly different from the disappointing 19.

"It seems to feel and behave very well so far,'' said Kimi Raikkonen. "The handling is much better. We did a lot of laps, but we still have a shortage of the new components, which causes delay in repairs.''