Solberg frustrated

The Subaru driver turned 32 on day two of the event, but there was little for the Norwegian to celebrate as he

The high point were a few second fastest stage times early on Saturday as his Pirelli tyres seemed more suited to the morning conditions than the BF Goodriches of most of his rivals.

But for the 2003 world champion, sixth place - almost five minutes behind winner Marcus Gronholm - was just not good enough.

"I tried as hard as I could but I've simply not been able to challenge the fastest guys this weekend.

"Of course it's very frustrating; I want to win rallies, and it's not much fun when that isn't possible."

Solberg's result kept him in sixth place in the championship, but that is poor reward for a former champion, who rejected an offer from Citroen for 2007 to stay with the Japanese manufacturer and has now gone 19 rallies since his last win.

Subaru managing director Richard Taylor echoed Solberg's thoughts, stating that the New Zealand performance was below-par, especially after second place on the previous round in Australia appeared to show the team making gains.

Taylor said: "With just two fastest stage times we have struggled to match the performance of the last two events and clearly Petter had hoped to finish better than sixth.

"We just have to improve on Rally GB, and I'm confident that we will."