Everybody’s had their say. Colin Clark’s been talking of a two-horse race since Finland. This week’s SPIN, The Rally Pod dives deep on this topic, but what does the man himself think?
Oliver Solberg: tell us your thoughts on the 41-point gap between yourself and World Rally Championship leader Elfyn Evans. Before you start, it’s worth remembering there’s a maximum of 105 points still on the table across the final three rounds of the year.
So, is it over?
Solberg: “I don’t think it’s over. I mean, it’s still a long way to go. Three rallies, quite difficult rallies, quite rough rallies, especially the last two. If it’s going to be Sardinia and Saudi, you need some luck also with tires, the car, and everything can turn around.
“I think everything is possible. Yeah, it’s a long shot, but it is possible.”
Then who are we to argue? Especially with the last three rounds all on the loose. Gravel has been good to the 24-year-old in his first full season with the Toyota team. Greece aside, he’s led or won stages on every event on that surface.
“The main problems I had was on Tarmac,” continued Solberg. “It has been a very strong first half of the season also taking away the Tarmac bits, where the speed has been incredible, but just missing the little details. It hasn’t been anything crazy, but just, you know, details. And I think that has steadied out through the last three rallies now.
“The first half of the season? Yeah, I’m very proud of my speed.
Solberg's pace on gravel rounds of this year's championship has been impressive
“I think it comes with experience to accept your speed is good enough, you don’t have to push every stage. Every rally this year, so far, has been pretty new. And to understand where you are against the best guys in the world, on every surface, we’ve actually been fighting against them in every race already, even on Tarmac.
“Thing is to understand that level and be like: ‘OK, this stage is fine, I lose three seconds to Elfyn, no problem, then I can win next time with three [seconds].’ And just to have that understanding and patience. That comes with experience.”
And with experience can come titles. This year? Let’s wait and see.
