Petter Solberg’s hopes of securing second place in this year’s World Rallycross Championship have been hit by the delayed arrival of the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo R Supercars into Cape Town.
The PSRX Volkswagen Sweden cars and kit remain stuck on a container ship waiting to dock in Cape Town.
The team has missed scrutineering and will miss this afternoon’s shakedown at the Killarney International Raceway.
A hugely despondent Petter said: “It was already complicated to try to make the silver this weekend, but now it’s got even more complicated. It’s so disappointing. Johan and me, we are here, we are ready to go, but we just have no car to drive!”
Q&A Pernilla Solberg, PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team principal
Where are the cars?
“Right now, the cars are still on the boat in the team’s two containers.”
Why are they so late?
“The cars were collected as planned from Hannover on October 23. They were originally scheduled to leave Antwerp to arrive in Cape Town on November 14. For some reason, our two shipping containers didn’t make it onto that boat. Instead, they were put on the boat a week later.”
When should the ship have arrived in South Africa?
“On Wednesday (November 21), which would have still given us time to get the containers off and everything set up. Unfortunately, the ship then encountered bad weather on the way down here and even now, high winds are making it difficult for the boat to dock.”
What’s the plan now?
“We are completely in the hands of the weather and the shipping company. As soon as the boat comes in we will bring the container with the cars in straight to the track and start working on preparing the cars for practice tomorrow. But, obviously, we will have to get the cars scrutineered first.”
How frustrating is this?
“Unbelievably! Like Petter said, we are here, ready to go and looking to finish this fantastic season in the best possible fashion. We have the chance to make the perfect year: teams’ title and gold and silver in the drivers’, but that is getting more and more complicated by the minute. To be honest, it’s a nightmare.”
Here we go! The cars have finally arrived, and now the real preparations for the weekend can begin ???? #CapeTownRX pic.twitter.com/d55N377tgP
— Petter Solberg RX (@Petter_Solberg) November 23, 2018
