Last year, Oliver Solberg claimed his first world title in Rally2 and won his first World Rally in Rally1. Will this, then, be the year he wins his first World Rally Championship title?
After a dominant season with Printsport in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 in which he became WRC2 champion and won nine of the 13 events he started, Solberg joins Toyota’s Rally1 lineup full-time for 2026 – effectively replacing the racing-bound Kalle Rovanperä.
Victory in a one-off drive at Rally Estonia last year naturally raises expectations of what 24-year-old Solberg can achieve this campaign, particularly with both Rovanperä and Ott Tänak not contesting this season.
His father, Petter, won the world title for Subaru back in 2003, and Oliver isn’t discounting the possibility of becoming the first son of a world champion to lift the title in 2026.
Subaru was Petter's second factory drive in the WRC. Toyota is OIiver's second chance at a works drive. Will the outcome be the same?
“I feel 100% ready [for Rally1],” Solberg told DirtFish. “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].
“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.”
Co-driver Elliott Edmondson is similarly optimistic.
Solberg and Edmondson stunned the world on their sole Rally1 outing in 2025. Delivering more of the same in 2026 is their plan
“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,” he told DirtFish.
“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.
“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.
“But at the same time, we know that if it was possible in Estonia, then it is also possible to happen again. So we just need to make sure that we manage our expectations. But we will definitely be working to the absolute best of our abilities to try and get the best results we possibly can.
“There’s no reason why it couldn’t happen again and we’ll be doing our best.”
