Solberg completes comeback

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">OBIHIRO, Japan: The cheer which went up from the huge crowd at the podium ceremony at Satsunai would have made all the toil, sweat and tears worthwhile for Petter Solberg. Finally, after three horrendous rallies, the Norwegian tasted victory.<br /><br />Solberg carved a place for himself in Japan''s motorsport history by winning the Japan Rally World Rally Championship on Sunday.The joy was doubled as Solberg, who drives for Subaru, gave the home team a victory to cherish.<br /><br />It was a heady comeback for Solberg, especially after his near-death collision in Germany last month. The victory takes him to second in the standings behind Frenchman Sebastien Loeb of Citroen with 54 points.<br /><br />Loeb, with five rallies remaining on the circuit, leads the championship with 84 points. Estonian driver Markko Martin of Ford finished third here in Japan and is also third in the overall classification, just a point behind Solberg.<br /><br />Solberg made Japan a start-to-finish affair, finishing the final stage of the championship a crushing 54.3 seconds ahead of Loeb.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />"It was a perfect rally," said Solberg. "Obviously we have designs on the championship and we are hoping to put everything into each rally."<br /><br />"Hopefully, we will have some good results over the next five rallies and Sebastien will be unlucky," Solberg added when asked if he could still catch Loeb.<br /><br />With Solberg in command, a battle of wits developed between Loeb and Martin. Loeb said, "At the start, out target was to finish in the top four and add to our championship points. Once we saw we could not catch him, we decided to stop pushing and consolidate our position."<br /><br />Peugeot''s Marcus Gronholm finished a disappointing fourth, gearbox problems returning to haunt the Finn.<br /><br />"I was 20 seconds behind Solberg on Saturday when the problem started. It just refused to go away and I concentrated on staying ahead of (Carlos) Sainz."<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal"><br />Karamjit vaults into championship lead: Karamjit Singh didn''t make the mistake of celebrating too soon. Nevertheless, he had his chance when he won the Japan leg of the Asian Pacific Rally Championship on Sunday.<br /><br />The Malaysian driver for Proton Pert consolidated on a lead which he took on Saturday afternoon and, helped liberally with a retirement from MRF''s Katsuhiko Taguchi, crossed the finish at the final stage in a time of 2 hours 26:15.7 seconds.<br /><br />"It''s a fantastic feeling," said Karamjit, who now leads the championship with 48 points, nine more than MRF''s Armin Kremer, leader after the previous round in Rotorua, New Zealand.<br /><br /> When asked when he thought he could win the rally, Karamjit replied: "Really, I did not think of winning as such. A rally is never over until you cross the finish line. Too many things can happen."<br /><br />Things certainly happened to Taguchi and his co-driver Mark Stacey. The Japanese MRF driver was second in the overall standing when, with three stages to go, an engine problem cropped up and forced a retirement. "It''s disappointing," said Taguchi.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section4"><div class="Normal"><br />"The car was running so well and we were actually gaining time on Karamjit when this happened."<br /><br />Gearbox problems continued to plague Kremer. On Saturday, the German had a second gear problem and on Sunday the problem developed into a fourth gear failure, despite a change of cables. Kremer also received a one-minute penalty for a violation and finished the Japan leg in fourth.<br /><br />The Atkinson brothers Christopher and Benjamin were second in a Suzuki Ignis Super 1600, while the Kiwi pair of Geoff Argyle and Steve Smith were third in a Mistubishi Evo 8.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Final results:</span> Karamjit Singh-Allen Oh (Proton Pert) 2:26.15.7, Christopher and Benjamin Atkinson (Suzuki) 2:27.24.3, Geof Argyle-Steve Smith (Mitsubishi) 2:30.56.8, Armin Kremer-Timo Gottschalk (MRF-Mitsubishi) 2:31.39.7, Vesa Mikkola-Risto Niukkanen (Suzuki) 2:32.08.8, Nico Caldarola-Paolo Cecchini 2:33.37.8.</div> </div>