Solberg, who dominated the WRC2 category for the past three seasons, leads the rally after Friday by more than a minute ahead of team-mates Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier. Competing under the Swedish flag, Solberg already impressed last season by winning Rally Estonia, but his dominance in the demanding conditions of Monte Carlo has been extraordinary to watch.
Of course, half of the rally is still to be run, but Solberg has shown that he has come to the Rally1 level to stay. If everything goes perfectly this weekend, there is nothing to stop the man from even driving towards a world championship.
“It’s been incredible really really incredible. The. The goal was to stay consistent all day and try to avoid problems. Of course we had one slow puncture but the rest has been really good,” Solberg sighed.
“This afternoon was all about trying to survive without doing mistakes. And first stage we could be on the pace, beating the guys. And then after that we got a bit problem with this lightness. We just caught the dark and it was really tricky to push and a bit too risky. And then the last one was just really not to push at all because there’s so many people off the road. And I got a bit scared.”
The difficult conditions did not frighten Solberg too much, however, because even though Ogier set the fastest times on the last two stages, Solberg’s lead remained at over a minute. Still, there has been plenty to learn.
“in the afternoon it was the first time I was doing big cuts with the car in the mud. I haven’t tested that before, so it was a bit interesting as well. So it’s still a lot of learning.”
Solberg’s father Petter won the world championship in the 2003 season, but never managed to win Monte Carlo during his career. Now the son could become the first Solberg to achieve such a feat.
“There is still an crazy long way to go to the finish. The weather will also change tomorrow and on Sunday. There will definitely be snow, dry conditions and mud, absolutely everything. I thought yesterday would be difficult, but this day was something else. Still, we drove well and I can be happy,” Solberg summed up.
