The story had a happy ending, but things could have turned out very differently. Solberg took numerous risks during the rally – and in the end, they paid off.
Solberg ultimately secured a dominant class victory on Portugal’s gravel roads in the WRC2 category. French Citroën driver Yohan Rossel trailed behind by 51.8 seconds.
“For me, the weekend was absolutely perfect, I have to say. It was an incredible experience. Friday was the most important day of the weekend for me – so long and decisive,” Solberg summarised to RallyJournal.com.
Solberg started the rally in excellent form, but then spun on the sixth special stage and lost a significant amount of valuable time.
“I tried to build a gap to the others, and I succeeded. But then I spun and lost everything. I had to try again,” Solberg recalled of Friday’s dramatic events.
After that moment, Solberg realised that to make up for the lost time, he would have to go all in – even if it meant taking risks.
“On the new stages, I decided to take a risk and went with four new soft tyres. I figured that I can usually gain time on new stages, so I decided to give it a shot. I clawed back 30 seconds – a very successful tyre choice, and everything went perfectly. I felt comfortable in the car, and that made me happy,” Solberg said of his gamble.
Tyre choices played a major role in Solberg’s rally in Portugal. He also took a small risk on Saturday, but that too turned out to be the right call.
“On Saturday, I had to use hard tyres in the morning, which was another small risk. But that also worked out well in the end. I maintained the 52-second lead I had built up on Friday evening, so it turned out to be a really good and consistent weekend,” Solberg stated contentedly.
