Oliver Solberg has parted ways with his co-driver Aaron Johnston, ending a three-year partnership.
Johnston and Solberg first co-operated on Latvia’s Rally Alūksne in 2019 and during their three years together went on to claim the Latvian Rally Championship and European Rally Championship’s ERC1 Junior titles, while also securing victories in the American Rally Association and the WRC3 class.
Johnston also sat with Solberg in a 2C Competition Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC on the World Rally Championship’s Safari Rally Kenya this year, although the pair retired on SS5.
Solberg announced the split on Thursday via social media, but there was no suggestion regarding who would replace Johnston for the rest of the season.
“After nearly three fantastic years working together with Aaron Johnston, we’ve decided to go our separate ways,” said Solberg.
“We have so many amazing memories together – our win on our debut together at Rally Alūksne in 2019, becoming 2019 Latvian Champions, winning with Subaru Motorsports USA.
“Our official WRC debut and first WRC class win, becoming 2020 ERC1 Junior Champions and our most recent win at Rally di Alba – it’s been such an incredible time and one I will never forget!
“I would like to say a big thank you to Aaron for all of his hard work and professionalism over the past three years, and wish him all the very best for the future!”
The announcement is the second driver/co-driver split in as many days, after M-Sport Adrien Fourmax said he and long-term partner Renaud Jamoul had gone different ways, and joins a long line of co-driver changes this season.
There have also been a number of temporary co-driver changes for drivers including Solberg, with Seb Marshall deputizing on Arctic Rally Finland after Johnston had a false positive COVID-19 test.
