Last week, 2003 world champion Petter Solberg announced plans to come out of retirement to contest the Royal Rally of Scandinavia (13-15 June), which will mark his first full rally since Wales Rally GB in 2019. Petter is set to drive a family-owned Volkswagen Polo, which he took to WRC2 victory in Wales five years ago – the very event when Oliver made his WRC debut.
However, to add extra spice to the ERC’s visit to Sweden, son Oliver has now confirmed plans to pilot the Rally2 Skoda Fabia in the gravel event, which he won last year with the Polo that will now be driven by his father.
Oliver Solberg heads to Sweden in fine form, sitting second in the WRC2 standings after a win in Sweden and second place in Kenya.
“Maybe it’s time for some revenge,” Oliver Solberg joked. “Seriously, it’s just going to be really nice to compete on another event with my father. Of course, it’s going to be interesting to look to the times and, yes, probably when I’m at the end of the stage, his is going to be the first one I look for.
“And I think he can be fast. We were doing some driving together over the winter and he’s still got it, he was still right there. I think he talked a little bit about the pacenotes – this is probably going to be the more complicated part for him, putting all the trust in the notes again is tricky after [such a] long time away.
“This really is my home event, it’s half an hour from home, so you imagine it’s a special one.
“But the main thing is just to be driving at home. Royal Rally is definitely one of my favourites of the season and, like I said, to be driving against my father is very cool.”
Before focussing his attention on the head-to-head with his father, Oliver is back in WRC action this weekend at Rally Sardinia.
