Petter Soꩲlberg had been hoping to be abl꧑e to battle for a place on the podium on the Rally Finland this weekend, instead he was forced to withdraw from the event on leg 2 due to severe handling problems.

Subaru have now confirmed tꦚhat his Impreza WRC car is being sent back to the UK tonight so that they can try and find out what is wrong with it [see separate story].

Petter meanwhile for his part, felt that pulling out was the only choice they hဣad, especially as the car was simply just not driveable.

Indeed yesterday he was reduced to tears following🧸 the first loop as he was just so frustrated with it, adding that it felt more like a two-wheel drive machine. Although Subaru managed to fix the problems then, the issue - or issues - reoccurred on Saturday and this time the team couldn't sort it out.

"If you look at the big picture then withdrawing from the rally was really the only option we had. We still had nearly 100km left to run after SS15 and the car really wasn't working at speed," he explained. "If it helps us get to the bottom of why my car wasn't wor♌king propꦚerly, then it will have been worth doing.

"I'm very sorry to my supporters who w⛎ere on the🦩 stages waiting. But trust me; it wouldn't have been much fun to watch today," he added.

For the record, Petter had bee🌜n running eighth overall, prior to p🌄ulling out after SS15, when he was over a minute off the pace.