This year, Solberg joined the Finnish Printsport team, switching to the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car. With this move, Solberg also gained a strong connection to Toyota’s WRC team, which, like Printsport, operates from Central Finland.
Solberg got his first taste of the new Finnish team at Rally Monte-Carlo and was highly impressed with the work ethic of the Finnish team and the wider Toyota crew.
“What’s so nice with Toyota and the people around is that they have a passion for rally,” Solberg praised.
“It’s all about working together and winning together. There’s no politics or anything like that. We have fun during testing, work hard, and try to come up with solutions. Everyone is allowed to share ideas and work together, and that’s what I love a lot,” Solberg continued.
Although Solberg is now part of the Toyota camp, the Swede refrained from criticising his previous employers, showing them respect. However, he was quick to heap praise on Toyota.
“With Škoda, which I’ve been driving for two years, you know, you get used to the car. That was the first time I’d driven the same car for two years in a row, getting to work on it a lot,” Solberg explained.
“Already now with Toyota, I’ve tried to follow the philosophy I’ve always had about what I like in a car and what makes it easy to drive, with a big window of performance. We’ve already worked hard with Toyota to improve in those areas. But it has a lot of strengths already from the start – it’s a very small car with good weight distribution and long suspension travel,” Solberg noted.
“It has many strong points. But, for sure, I believe there are also many areas we can improve and get better at. At least the base and the potential are massive,” Solberg added enthusiastically.
Next on Solberg’s schedule is his home rally in Sweden, for which he’ll prepare with testing in Finland.
“It’s a bit weird, but anyway,” Solberg laughed.
“We have two more days to prepare, and I definitely feel we need that to get to the level I want with the car and everything compared to my previous experience on snow. But already, the base is fantastic, and I feel good about it,” Solberg concluded.
Rally Sweden takes place from 13–16 February.