For Solberg, last year was almost magical, as he won the WRC2 championship and also claimed victory in his debut outing at the wheel of Toyota’s Rally1 car at Rally Estonia. The Swede contested a total of 13 rallies in Printsport’s GR Yaris Rally2 car and won nine of them.
The fine success earned Solberg a seat in Toyota’s top team, with the Swedish prospect replacing Kalle Rovanperä, who has moved to circuit racing. The tremendous success has lifted Solberg’s confidence to the skies. He even talks about a world championship already in his debut season at the wheel of Toyota’s top-class car.
If Solberg were to win the world title one day, he would become a world champion like his father, who lifted the trophy in 2003 with Subaru. Oliver and Petter Solberg would then become the first father-and-son pairing to achieve such a feat.
“I feel 100% ready for Rally1. I felt ready for a while, but especially after Estonia, I felt ready to go on forever. It’s been a while since I was last in the proper program, so this is a dream come true. As I said, everything is possible. If I can fight for a championship, I don’t know, but I’ll do my best anyway, like I did [in 2025],” Solberg commented to Dirtfish.
Solberg has already thought about a preliminary plan regarding which rallies he intends to attack and in which events it might be wiser to take a calmer approach.
“I have different expectations for different types of rallies, but in the end of the year, if you see this year too, it’s all about doing more good results and some key wins.”
“OK, Ogier is Ogier, but he managed to win while missing three rallies, so then if you have a consistent good season with some good results, very good ones, I think everything is possible,” Solberg explains.
Solberg’s co-driver Elliott Edmondson is on the same page.
“Well, to use Oliver’s quote, which he says all the time, which is everything’s possible. Which is true! You have to be that optimistic in this sport. That’s an important mindset to have, is to always be optimistic, to always be wanting more, to always be looking for the best possible result, whatever that might be,” Edmondson says to Dirtfish.
“So, of course we’re going to be realistic. We understand that what happened in Estonia, whilst it was a genuine result, we can’t expect that everywhere. We are aware of that as much as, if not more than, anybody else you know so we are managing our expectations very well.”
