Oliver Solberg admitted he was not deserving of a podium result on his home round of the World Rally Championship, having finished fourth and almost half a minute behind third-placed Sami Pajari.
After a stunning victory on the Monte Carlo Rally in January, Solberg had the unenviable task of running first on the road in Sweden – a disadvantage when there is plenty of snow on top of the roads to clear.
Though he led after the opening Umeå stage on Thursday night his rally unravelled thereafter: a stall on stage two was followed by a dramatic off on the Andersvattnet test – which was followed only seconds later by a second trip off road.
“I put a lot of expectations on myself, but I think this weekend was a good learning curve to understand how it is to be first on the road,” Solberg told DirtFish.
“I didn’t expect it to be that difficult or that slippery. With the mistake I did on Friday and the starting position [the next day] just put me on the back foot all week. Sunday was OK; I did the best I could.
“After Friday I have to be happy in the end. I don’t think I deserve more than P4. Without the mistake, maybe I would have been P3. But OK, that’s easy to say now.”
By the end of the first day Solberg had fallen to sixth, 51 seconds off the lead. Though he caught and passed the Hyundais of Esapekka Lappi and Adrien Fourmaux, he failed to make significant inroads on his Toyota team-mates; his eventual margin to rally winner Elfyn Evans crept up to 1m11.6s by the finish.
“I have to say it was a tricky weekend and I never really found the feeling or the rhythm,” Solberg added.
“I didn’t want to try to push too hard in the rest of the weekend either because I never had that feeling. I never wanted to try to force it and it was tricky.”
Solberg’s Monte win had come against expectations; in Sweden the opposite was true, with the winter rally considered the event where Solberg’s true ability in the GR Yaris Rally1 would come to the fore. But he explained several factors limited his potential heading into the rally.
Sweden was expected to be Solberg's stronger event rather than Monte Carlo. The opposite proved true
“It’s probably the rally where I had the least preparation, if you compare to Estonia or Monte Carlo,” said Solberg. “But first time in the car, first time being first on the road and it was a scrappy Friday – so you don’t get the great feeling for the rest of the weekend.
“Like Ogier said after Monte Carlo: that’s the reason why I don’t go to Sweden. Now I know! And this year was a lot of snow compared to last year.”
Solberg’s fourth place in Sweden, combined with third in the Sunday classification and fourth on the powerstage, puts him 13 points behind new championship leader Evans. Ogier meanwhile has fallen all the way to sixth in the title race, 42 points off the top spot, having skipped Sweden.
