Oliver Solberg entered Acropolis Rally Greece aware that he’d approached the previous Tarmac rallies incorrectly.
Fighting his natural instinct to win was difficult, but perhaps would have been the smarter choice – particularly in Gran Canaria and Japan where he crashed while chasing down the leader.
“When you’re fighting for the win like that, it’s tricky to just be like: ‘Nope, you know what? I’m not going to fight for the win. I’m just going to be satisfied to be on the podium’,” Solberg told DirtFish.
“I could have had a couple of easy podiums, probably, on Tarmac. But it’s easy to say now. But at least on gravel I have a good feeling. I had some good results, so everything is possible.”
Unfortunately, the Toyota driver’s dip in form only got deeper in Greece after he entered a right-hander too quickly which put him out on the loose, and then beached off the road for the succeeding left.
Immediately after the incident Solberg said he still hadn’t “found out” how to eliminate the small mistakes which he felt had “big consequences”.
Solberg now intends to “reset” and try and rediscover the freedom in his driving he did when he first stepped into a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. On his first two starts, in Estonia last year and on this year’s Monte Carlo season opener, he won.
“I know I can be fast, I know all my abilities, but you have to also get back into the rhythm a little bit also of everything, and that’s been quite tough lately,” Solberg told DirtFish.
“[I need to] get back a bit to where I was in the beginning with the car, you know, and with myself. And I know I can get there, I just need to reset a little bit.”
Solberg spoke with Toyota sporting director Kaj Lindström during Acropolis Rally Greece, who reassured him that the team is aware of his capabilities.
“I didn’t really speak to many of the guys,” Solberg said, “but I spoke a little bit with Kaj, and they know my ability, they know the potential and they’ve seen it.
“I think mentally since Croatia, I think it’s just been really tough. Maybe you want to prove yourself again or want too much when you’re in a fight or something. Yeah, maybe I should have been satisfied with a couple of podiums – I could probably have had a few now.
“But you know, [I need to] just mentally understand that if you want to fight for the championship you have to be satisfied sometimes and I think that definitely was a big eye-opener this weekend. To really reset, to be honest.”
