Petter Solberg’s navigator Chris Patterson had to take the wheel of their Citroen DS3 for the final stage after Solberg was forced to surrender his licence to the local police following a speeding infringement on a public road earlier in the event.
Having never driven the DS3 WRC before, Patterson was powerless to keep hold of fourth spot.
“We were caught speeding and, like the everybody else, rally drivers have to obey the law,” said Patterson. “Road safety is a very important message in the World Rally Championship, we were caught and we paid the price.”
Patterson insisted he was under no pressure in the final stage of the rally, despite it being run live on television.
“If you’re going to make your debut as a driver, do it in style,” said Patterson. “I did that with a brand new Citroen DS3 World Rally Car, on a proper snow and ice stage with live television. I wasn’t nervous at all, there was no point in getting nervous, I’d just have put pressure on myself. I had to average 60kph to stay ahead of Sebastien Loeb and we actually managed well over that. It was an amazing experience, but the main thing is that we took some points away with us and kept our fifth place.”
Co-driven by Petter, Patterson recorded a stage time of 3min 13.9s - completing the 4.16 kilometre section 51.2 seconds slower than stage winner Sebastien Ogier.
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