MIXED FORTUNES FOR STOBART CREWS
 
It has been mixed fortunes for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team after eleven stages of the Uddeholm Swedish Rally. Gigi Galli leads the way in a strong third while Matthew Wilson has advanced two places from his overnight position to occupy fifth.
Norwegian Henning Solberg began stage 9 with a puncture losing 20 seconds but fought back on the following test to be second quickest over the 20.92 kilometre stage. Unfortunately the super run came to an end on the final stage before service when he ran into a safety barrier after getting too sideways on a fast left-hand corner 22 kilometres in damaging the front end of his Stobart Ford Focus RS WRC07.Solberg has now been retired for the day and a decision as to whether he will restart tomorrow under SupeRally rules will be made when his M-Sport team have fully inspected the damage.Today’s opening three stages again ran north of Rally HQ around the Hagfors and Munkfors townships.
Stages have been at a lower altitude than yesterday and as a result less snow has been present exposing so much gravel that organisers have cancelled stage 12 this afternoon.

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Driver Gigi Galli said:“This morning has been very good we had a good pace from the first stage and just tried to keep the same speed as Henning [Solberg]. My plan is to keep driving well and find a good balance again like yesterday. I still don’t know the car well enough to push harder but I’m happy with the pace at the moment and it’s really good to have moved up into a podium position, we will try and maintain this today.”

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Driver Henning Solberg said:“I’m very very disappointed we had started off well with some fast times but unfortunately I got too sideways coming out of a fast left-hand corner hit some railings and damaged the car quite badly. I was pushing quite hard and had got into a good position so obviously it’s been a bad end to the day for me.”Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team Driver Matthew Wilson said:“We have moved up two places this morning so that has been quite promising I’ve found a comfortable pace and the tyres have been working quite well so we will try and keep at this pace this afternoon. It’s a shame about Henning [Solberg] but it has moved us up to fifth and now its time for me to consolidate this position. The car feels really good and everything is working well for us.”

Leaderboard after SS11
1. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1h38m44.0sec
2. M Hirvonen/J LehtinenFIN Ford Focus RS +53.9s
3. G Galli/G BernacchiniI Ford Focus RS +1m22.3s
4. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza +2m34.0s
5. M Wilson/S Martin GB Ford Focus RS +3m57.7s
6. A Mikkelsen/O FloeneN Ford Focus RS +4m23.7s
7. D Sordo/M Marti E Ford Focus RS +6m53.0s
8. P Sandell/E AxelssonSWE Peugeot 207 +6m59.2s
9. J Hānninen/M MarkkulaFIN Mitsubishi Lancer +7m03.4s
10. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FINSuzuki SX4 +8m00.8s

Taken from http://www.stobartmotorsport.com