Rally Poland has come to its conclusion, and Petter Solberg ended the event in a sudden fourth place behind Mikko Hirvonen, Dani Sordo and his brother Henning Solberg.

Every day in Poland was spent driving flat-out as Solberg tried to keep the same pace as the other drivers. However on Sunday morning's opening stage he got a surprise when the dip-stick for the oil suddenly came off, spraying oil over the engine and blowing from under the bonnet onto the windshield.

"About half way through the stage, we had to turn on the wipers to clean the windscreen for what we thought was water. Instead it was oil, and it made it almost impossible to see anything," reported co-driver Phil Mills.

But the biggest drama came on the final stage of the rally, the 2.5km super special: the Ford team's Jari-Matti Latvala was second overall, and he just had to drive safely trough the stage to secure his place. Instead he hit a barrier, damaged the steering and suspension, and had to retire.

The result for the Petter Solberg World Rally Team was a surprise move from fifth to a fourth position finish.

"This has been an unbelievably fast rally," Solberg reported. "We have been absolutely flat out all the time and totally on the limit, but it was never enough."

"Our old car is lacking power compared to the new ones and it is almost impossible to keep up with them on the fast sections," he added.

It is possible the team's 2004 Citroen Xsara will be retired in the near future as Solberg has recently tested a Mitsubishi and a Subaru, and expects to try out a Peugeot and a Skoda soon.

At the Rally Poland finish line Solberg mentioned the possibilty that, due to the lack of power the current car has on its modern rivals, the Petter Solberg World Rally Team might decide to forfeit the very fast Rally Finland next month.