Petter Solberg's driving ban won't affect his participation on the remaining rounds of this season's World Rally Championship, the Norwegian has said in a statement.
Solberg has had his driving licence suspended in Sweden after he was clocked travelling at 112kph in an 80kph limit on the road section heading to the fifth stage of the country?s WRC round on Friday.
The ban kicked-in at 14:00hrs yesterday (Sunday) and meant Solberg?s co-driver Chris Patterson had to get behind the wheel of their Citroen DS3 WRC for the rally-closing Power Stage.
Solberg, who has admitted his guilt and accepted his punishment, explained: ?I was delayed leaving the service park after the midday service on Friday. I was of course eager to arrive at the start of stage five in time and I drove too fast.
?I was stopped by the police officer and immediately declared myself guilty as charged which meant that the police withdrew my driving licence. However I, like everyone else, had the right to drive a car for 48 hours after the licence was withdrawn. I was therefore allowed to keep on driving until 14:00hrs on the Sunday but not thereafter. Therefore I and my co-driver Chirs Patterson changed place in the car.
?I tried to get an exemption so that I could drive the last stage as well but this did not work. I have admitted my fault and will pay the fines. I will be prohibited from driving in Sweden, but only in Sweden, for one to two months. So there are no worries, my dedication to the WRC will remain in full force.?
Solberg and Patterson finished fifth overall on the event and claimed three stage wins in the process. Their next event is Rally Guanajuato Mexico from 3-6 March.