by Rob Wilkins

TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH HENNING SOLBERG: 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:CLICK HERE

Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg has had some pretty strong results in the first half of the season, including of course that podium finish at his home event in Norway back in February. wuqian0821.com Radio caught up with him recently to chat꧟ about his year thus far and to get his thoughts on the second half of the season, which gets underway with the Rally Finland early next month...

wuqian0821.com:
Henning, looking back on the first half of🦩 the season, were you happy with how things went ge🌸nerally speaking?

Henning Solberg:
I have to say I am pleased. I am🍸 now sixth overall in the drivers' champio♉nship, just two points behind Petter [my brother] and four points behind Dani Sordo. I am very happy with that.

wuqian0821.com:
You finished the first half of the season on quite a high didn't you with three points finishes in succession in Argentina (5th), Sardin🐷ia (4th) and Greece (5th)?

HS:
I was very, very happy with those three ralliesꩵ. Of course if I had had a bit more luck I could have got onto the podium, but I didn't. We will try and reach the podium now in the second half of the season.

wuqian0821.com:
You have scored pointsꦿ in 5 of the 8 events to date, including taking a podium finish on your home event in Norway. I guess that was the highlight so far?

HS:
That was a very, very rewarding 🌠event. It was ve♌ry stressful to do my home rally but we managed to get on the podium and that was really great.

wuqian0821.com:
How have you found thing🐈s adapting to the Focus, having used the Peugeot 307 in 2006?

HS:
It is coming. I am struggling a little bit with how the car is for me. The other guys have done a perfect job with the car, but I need some more time to get use to the car. We don't have much test﷽ing, so I have to do it on the rallies. I take it step-by-step. But I am pretty happy now an💧d we are getting closer to the top and that is the aim we have.

wuqian0821.com:
Have you 𒁏done or are you going to do any more tests before the second half of the season?

HS:
We have done some tarmac tests and some gravel tests. So it is looking better. I am not so use toꦇ tarmac and therefore I have to learn. I have sat in the car with [Jari-Matti] Latvala, as he is a very good tarmac driver and he has done a lot of asphalt events in the WRC. I have tried to learn a little bit from him. It is coming.

wuqian0821.com:
There are fo♌ur as☂phalt events in the second half of the year. You don't have much experience on tarmac. How tough will that make things for you?

HS:
Yeah it will be tough. Ireland is going to be a very, very difficultไ rally.

wuqian0821.com:
Are you going to do any sort o💧f special preparations for those events?

HS:
No, I only need to drive more on tarmac. I will try and m⛎aybe get some more tes🤪ts. I will also do some go-karting - with a proper gear go-kart and do some hours on the track. I have to do some practising with all kinds of cars and then I can get more use to tarmac.

wuqian0821.com:
Next up we have the Rally Finland, are you lookin๊g fo✱rward to that event?

HS:
I am really looking forward to Finland. I was fourth ther꧂e last year and had my best result there. We were ve𒁏ry, very close to the top.

wuqian0821.com
How ar๊e you getting on with your team-mates, 🅷Jari-Matti Latvala and Matthew Wilson?

HS:
It is working very well. We are a good team and we are friends. We all✤ try and do as well as we can to get as many points as possible and then we will see where we end up at 🌸the end of the year.

wuqian0821.com
You ar🍰e currently sixth in the drivers' championship. What's the target for the year over🉐all?

HS:
If I can keep my position and be close as possible to these other guys that would be great🃏. Then we will see what happens in the final few rounds.

wuqian0821.com
It looks like the WRC will revert to a 12-event season from♛ꦐ 2009. What do you think of that?

HS:
It is OK, if we can have not so man🍬y tarmac rallies. If that is the case it will be very, very good. It w⭕ill be a very, very good championship.

wuqian0821.com:
Will it make it tougher do you thi🥃nk for Norway to get a second chance at hosting a WRC event, now that there will be four less slots?

HS:
I am not sure. I don't know how they are going to do it. I hope Norway will get an event. 🃏In the championship we need two winter rallies. There will be only one next year, so that is a bit boring without Norway. I hope we can have two winter rallies in 2009. It is very, very nice to drive on the꧙ snow and on the ice.

wuqian0821.com:
Final question: You are obviously a Ford man, but﷽ who do you think will win the drivers' title and who will take the manufactu🌠rers'?

HS:
I think it is looking very, very good for Marcus [Gronholm], but it will be tough for him on the tarmac events. It will not be easy [for 𒉰Sebastien Loeb] to beat him on the gravel but we will have to see on the tarmac. In Monte Carlo it didn't look so good for the Fords compared to the Citroens - ౠbut maybe M-Sport will have done some good work with the car before the tarmac events [and the new spec car will give Marcus a boost]. We will have to wait and see.

TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH HENNING SOLBERG: 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:CLICK HERE