Oliver Solberg will return to Rally Liepaja next weekend for his second European Rally Championship appearance of the season.
The Swede will drive the same Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 he took to a maiden asphalt podium on Rally di Roma last month, alongside co-driver Aaron Johnston.
Solberg won Rally Liepaja last year (above) to become the youngest winner of an ERC event at just 17-years-old, and the Swede is aiming to secure back-to-back victories in Latvia, which he also sees as a test event ahead of the resumption of his WRC2 campaign.
“The emotions of winning [Rally Liepaja last year] are still really high for me and it will be nice to go back there and maybe make some more history,” said Solberg.
“But that’s the story from yesterday. Going to Liepaja this time is about the next part of the story – it’s about taking more points from the European championship and, of course, preparing for the next World Rally Championship round in Estonia (Rally Estonia, September 4-6).
“The roads in Latvia are fast and quite similar to Estonia, so this makes it a nice place to test.”
Solberg’s third place in Roma put him at the top of the ERC1 Junior title race, 10 points clear of Romanian Simone Tempestini.
But having beaten Roma winner and current points leader Alexey Lukyanuk to the win in Latvia last year by 9.7s, Solberg is aiming for more of the same this year.
“Last year was one of my first times in four-wheel drive on gravel so I didn’t really have any expectations, but the speed was really good from the start,” Solberg added.
“Rally Liepaja is fast and you have to be very precise with your pacenotes and also very precise with your driving. It looks easy but it’s very difficult.”
“Alexey is one of the fastest R5 guys in the world and the most crazy!
“For sure it’s going to be fun to battle with him again and I think he wants revenge. I just try to do my best to keep him off. I have to try to win it again this year. It’s going to be an exciting race.”
