Oliver Solberg has reported an overwhelming response to his online Rally Argentina event with 2500 people joining The Solberg RACE on Monday’s opening day.
The 18-year-old son of 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg admitted he was surprised at the speed and commitment of those taking part.
After five stages, Solberg Jr sits fifth overall.
“To have so many people, it’s incredible,” said Solberg. “It’s fantastic. Really I don’t think we could have expected such a response on the first day.
“It’s about more than just the competition, it’s like a community we are building already – people are posting pictures of their rally and sharing details. And some of them are taking it so seriously! It’s really cool.”
The 12-stage Rally Argentina is being driven in an R5 car in deference to Solberg’s season, which is shared between his Volkswagen Polo and a factory-supported Škoda Fabia.
“I made the settings on the game,” said Oliver. “I wanted to make it quite tough, so we have the damage turned up on the car and the roads are really rough. But to see the times that some of these guys are doing is just amazing.
“I know how much I have to push and how much risk I have to take to make those times and this is crazy – some people are really on it out there.
“I lost some time in the last couple of stages. I was running a tyre which was too soft. I dropped 20 seconds when they went off. My mistake.
“I knew it was a risk, but I thought I could take some time. I’m doing some stages every day, so I need to make a big push to try to pull some time back before the end now.”
The game is being played on DiRT Rally 2.0 and The Solberg RACE can be joined via dirtrally2.com/clubs, but you have to be through the 12th and final stage before midnight Friday.
Among the prizes up for grabs from Argentina are a limited edition Petter Solberg TW Steel watch and a pair of Oliver’s driving gloves.
DirtFish will carry a report on the event over the weekend.
