As World Rally Car debuts go, Oliver Solberg’s on Arctic Rally Finland was up there with the very best of them. Perhaps this should be no surprise, given the performance of his own father Petter on his first WRC outing back on the 1999 Safari Rally.
Some 21 years have passed since Petter deputized for the injured Thomas Rådström in Ford’s line-up – although poetically the two Solberg debuts fell on the same weekend of the year.
In that time, Solberg Sr has become a World Rally and double World Rallycross Champion before drawing his professional driving career to a close in 2019 to focus on his son’s career.
At 19, Solberg Jr made his first major step to WRC stardom in the Arctic Circle with a superb seventh overall and several top-four stage times.
DirtFish caught up with the Solbergs – Oliver, Petter and mama Pernilla – in this exclusive video, which captures all the emotions from this momentous chapter in the family’s proud rallying history.
