Oliver, son of former FIA World Rally Champion Petter Solberg, has made no secret of his championship ambitions in the WRC2 category this season. And at his home Rally Sweden, he set out resolutely towards that goal, dominating the event from the very beginning and challenging even the fastest drivers in the overall standings.
While Oliver Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson approached the first round of this year's FIA World Rally Championship, the Rallye Monte-Carlo, as a training event with no points to collect, at home in Sweden they jumped into the championship at full speed. And the result was excellent, as the duo managed to defend last year's victory in the competition, which Solberg recalled with enthusiasm in a pre-season interview. In it, he also made no secret of his ambition to win this year's WRC2 category, in which he is competing in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
By winning in Sweden, he has taken an important first step towards reaching this goal. Not only did the triumph bring Solberg important points, which now sees him share the WRC2 category lead after two events with Monte Carlo winner Yohan Rossel, but the performance also gave him confidence and self-assurance.
From the very beginning Oliver Solberg was very fast in the Fabia RS Rally 2. He took the lead in the first stage and basically just increased or maintained it throughout the event. After the first leg he had a lead of 30 seconds and on Friday evening Solberg was literally shining in the overall standings. In fact, he was third, literally in the middle of the pack of the highest category of WRC cars. That's something that no other crew in the WRC2 category has ever managed at the end of a full day of rallying. "Third place with a Rally2 car is incredible and in my home rally it's a bit of a dream," commented Solberg on this achievement.
On Saturday, Solberg and Edmondson increased their lead at the front of their category to more than a minute and were thus able to go calmly towards their goal. "The lead is so big now that I'm just enjoying the ride," said Solberg. The crew then handled Sunday's three stages with ease, finishing the event not only with a lead of more than one minute and nineteen seconds over their nearest rivals, but also with a score of eleven stages won out of eighteen. This is certainly a good basis for the future development of the season and Škoda Motorsport will be keeping its fingers crossed for Solberg, who starts in the Toksport WRT team.
However, the crews with Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 cars also recorded other successes in Rally Sweden. Sixth place in the WRC2 category went to the crew of Lauri Joona and Janni Hussi from Finland. Local heroes Isak Reiersen/Lucas Karlsson also cracked the top ten in the WRC2 category with an eighth place finish. And in the WRC Masters Cup category, which is reserved for drivers over the age of 50, the crew of Michał Sołowow/Maciej Baran from Poland took the win.
