Oliver Solberg denied that he was on a crazy push before crashing out of second place at Rally Japan.
The Toyota driver had been second to team-mate Elfyn Evans, 10.6 seconds adrift, before he ran wide, hit a pole and broke the rear-right suspension on SS10 – the first stage of Saturday afternoon.
Sébastien Ogier moved up a position as a result, but lamented Solberg’s exit: “It’s not a surprise,” Ogier said at stage-end. “This morning I’ve seen the risk he’s taking is too high.
“Unfortunately it’s not really a surprise, but it’s a shame.”
However Solberg refuted the idea that he was pushing too much before going off.
“Of course we are pushing, we are fighting for seconds in the top three of course,” he explained, “but it was nothing different to any other stage that I drove in.”
He added that he “doesn’t really have an answer” for why he keeps making mistakes on Tarmac rallies. He also crashed on the previous two sealed-surface events in Croatia and Gran Canaria.
“Big disappointment again on Tarmac unfortunately – it’s been tough,” Solberg reflected. “We felt really good in the car, very comfortable and yeah… wasn’t really pushing anything crazy, just trying to do what I did all weekend.
“Yeah, I just came down to this place, you know, it’s quite slippy cuts, muddy a little bit and yeah, didn’t really expect this when I arrived and just braked a little bit too late and hit that pole and broke the rear suspension.
“Tarmac for sure has been tough now lately, for sure. Again I can keep saying on Tarmac the speed has been fantastic and you know fighting with the two best guys in the world every time and consistently.
“The margins are very small on this level in Rally1 and I think that’s what I just need to try to understand better in all these different scenarios that’s been happening on Tarmac with tricky places. I don’t really have an answer for it at the moment.”
Solberg will return on Sunday to fight for up to 10 extra bonus points, but with points leader Elfyn Evans leading the event he is likely to lose yet more ground in the championship. Solberg started Rally Japan 31 points adrift.
“But gravel and so on has been very strong and even now, at least I have a good starting position for gravel,” he said. “And it’s only gravel from now. So I still believe everything is possible.
“You just got to keep trying, keep going, you know. I still believe in my abilities and the speed that I’m showing and the consistency and everything. But it’s just on Tarmac now, it has been hard. And I just got to take away the little things to focus on for the future now on the positives and just keep going.”
