Solberg currently leads the WRC2 championship, having won three out of his four events this season.
He has gone head-to-head with his toughest rivals all year and still managed to come out on top.
At the heart of this lies a so-called gentlemen’s agreement, which suggests that the top WRC2 drivers should compete for points at the same events, ensuring that the fastest and best driver emerges at the end of the season.
Nikolay Gryazin, a Russian driver competing under the Bulgarian flag, has chosen a different path. While Solberg and others have been competing consistently all season, Gryazin is set to make only his second points-scoring appearance at Rally Estonia.
Gryazin’s path to victory in Estonia is now noticeably clearer, as Yohan Rossel and Gus Greensmith are skipping the event, and Solberg is driving a Toyota Rally1 car instead of competing in WRC2. As a result, Gryazin is violating the gentlemen’s agreement.
“You never know with him. He’s a cheeky bastard — all the way to the end, you know. And he always… when we’re all done with our points, he’ll do it. And he’ll have no one to fight with. And then maybe it’s easy for him, I don’t know,” Solberg remarked.
WRC2 drivers are allowed to participate in all 14 rounds of the season if they wish, but they may nominate only seven rallies as point-scoring events. From those, the worst result is dropped, and the final score is calculated based on the best six results. This structure allows for strategic planning and tactics.
Solberg made it crystal clear how he feels about Gryazin’s unsportsmanlike strategy.
“I think it’s a bit cowardly,” Solberg said bluntly.
“Race us and beat us, you know? Yeah, that’s what I believe in,” he added.
