Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala believes Oliver Solberg is ready to win more rallies, but needs a full season before he can fight for the World Rally Championship.
WRC2 champion Solberg starts his first full season as a Toyota Rally1 driver in two weeks’ time at the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally.
The Swede has already taken his first World Rally win, stunning in a one-off drive at Rally Estonia last July – leaving many to question whether he’s ready to mount a title challenge.
David Evans asked Latvala that very question on the latest episode of SPIN, The Rally Pod.
“Oliver has been growing really well and you can see how mature he is these days,” Latvala offered. “I think it was maybe about the 2021 [sic 2022] season, maybe that was a bit too early for him to step up in a Rally1 car or WRC car. But now I can see that now is the right timing.
“He won already Estonia last year. I’m completely sure that he will win more events this year. But then the big question is, can he be the world champion? I think he would need to be one season in Rally1.
“I think this is still the year that he needs bit more experience from the cars. But then I think he could be ready for ’27.”
Team-mate Elfyn Evans would, however, appear an obvious title contender considering he missed out on the 2025 crown by just four points.
Latvala hopes finishing runner-up for the fifth time in the last six years doesn’t deflate the Welshman.
“Elfyn has been so close many times,” said the Finn. “He has everything to win the championship. My only worry is that when you are so close so many times that you can keep up your motivation because in one way it’s eating inside you when you get close and you can’t get it.
“But I wish now Elfyn keeps the same motivation and same hunger. He doesn’t really need to do anything more. I think it’s just that if he has one victory more during the season, that will be enough.
“The only thing I can say with Elfyn is that he was leading last year in springtime, had quite a big lead. Then maybe he would took a bit more [of the] safe side to events in the springtime. At that moment it’s probably that you need to take slightly more risks to get those wins. And those wins will help you then eventually to win the championship.”
Sébastien Ogier was the man who beat Evans to last year’s title, despite missing three events. Latvala was team-mates with Ogier when he won his first title and nowadays acts as the Frenchman’s team principal.
Latvala described Ogier as the most competitive person he's ever met
“He’s the most competitive person I have ever met,” Latvala said. “And he wants to win so his passion for winning is amazing. I never see anybody else [quite like that]. And then you can understand that if you have that passion, then you have to go for it.
“He is more relaxed these days,” he added. “Back then [at Volkswagen] you could see that in his eyes the passion for winning… he wanted the championship and he was ready to do everything for it. I appreciate the way he worked and then he achieved it.
“But after the third title you could see him getting a little bit more relaxed and then definitely a family, you know, getting married and getting a family. And he’s more relaxed, definitely, these days than at the Volkswagen time.
“I mean, I have had always a great respect with him and he had also respect for me. But I would say that we come even closer friends now at the Toyota time when I’m team principal and he’s a driver rather than where we were drivers at the same time.”
Listen to the full episode – where Latvala also discusses his acquisition of Printsport and his work developing the new Toyota GR Corolla RC2 – via the player below.
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