"It's incredible," said a delighted Solberg as he was engulfed by enthusiastic crowd of Scandinavians at the final flying finish. "It has been a dream for me to win this event for years, and the support of the fans from Sweden and Norway this weekend has been great. Also, I can't tell you how much work the team have put in before this rally after the disappointment of Monte Carlo."
Subaru's new recruits - Australian Chris Atkinson and French single-seater ace Stephane Sarrazin - had a mixed first weekend on snow with 13th and 14th places. Although Atkinson was set for points finish following an impressive debut, until losing 12 minutes on the closing loop of stages with damage from an off.
WRC.com
Atlanta, Michigan -- It was a decisive win for Pat Richard at Sno*Drift, the first round of the 2005 Rally America championship.
After his closest overall challenger, Seamus Burke, suffered a race-ending crash early Saturday, Richard pulled far ahead of the field to finish over seven minutes ahead of second-place finisher Matthew Iorio in his Open Class Subaru Impreza.
"I succeeded in not getting caught in a snow bank," Iorio said Saturday. "That was the goal, not to spend any time digging."
It was a personal best finish for Iorio in a national rally. He failed to complete Sno*Drift last year after landing in a snow bank.
RALLY AMERICA.com
1/29/03 Copyright 2003, skoshiracing