Oliver Solberg’s return to the World Rally Championship’s top-flight has been confirmed with a Rally Estonia entry aboard a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
The 23-year-old has been chasing Rally1 redemption since being dropped by Hyundai Motorsport at the end of 2022. Almost three years on and he’s there. Predictably, he’s delighted.
“It’s a dream come true,” he told DirtFish. “My dream is always to be driving a Toyota. And to be able to work so hard and get into the Toyota [GR Yaris] Rally2 so quickly this year, and probably do my best year so far is incredible. And getting this opportunity now… we have all pushed so hard for this and I feel more than ready – but it’s still a very big thanks to everybody at Toyota and to the Printsport guys for the work they have done this year for me.”
Solberg will test the car for two days next week.
Solberg described the chance to drive a GR Yaris Rally as a dream
“For the test, I’m looking to get comfortable and confident with the car,” he said. “The performance [side] goes hand-in-hand a bit, you know. It’s easy to mix up the two sometimes, so I think it’s important to first of all feel comfortable and get a good feeling and be a bit more on the bigger window side and have a more forgiving car to get to the finish and get experience. We can start to work a bit on performance during the weekend, but I think the most important is to get a comfortable feeling quickly and a big window at the test.”
Solberg’s form has been sublime this season – especially recently with an unbeaten Rally2 run through the last three WRC rounds. Last week’s Acropolis Rally Greece victory was one of his best ever and moved him back to the top of the WRC2 table.
“The feeling is really good in the car right now, I think this is the best year yet,” he said. “The [Printsport] team has been working extremely hard to make me comfortable in the car since the beginning. And I think you know, when you’ve worked really hard and you feel confident, you feel calm – then it becomes easier to find this flow state. For sure, I know I probably won’t have that exact same feeling with the Rally1 car straight away – but if I can work really hard in the beginning and get that feeling quickly, that will be important.
“I’ve spoken a lot with the team already and we’ve been working hard to define my driving style and I think the team knows my [driving] style well from working with them in Rally2 already.”
Solberg’s no stranger to Estonia, having competed there from the start of his career in 2017. Asked about a potential result in Tartu, he added: “The finish is the main goal, 100% without doing mistakes.
“I think this year so far has been great in that sense, so just keep the calm rhythm and build the rhythm step-by-step and then get the feeling for it and then, you know eventually, hopefully, maybe doing some good times.
“Let’s just see a bit how it feels in testing first and see how comfortable I feel. In one way, it’s just a car – so you just got to do the best you can and drive.”
Toyota’s sporting director Kaj Lindström admitted the last three rallies had impressed him greatly.
Lindström told DirtFish: “We are very pleased to be able to provide this opportunity for Oliver to drive our GR Yaris Rally1 car on the next WRC round in Estonia. We have been following his progress closely, especially this year when he’s been driving the GR Yaris Rally2 car, and his form has been impressive – particularly over the last few gravel rallies in Portugal, Sardinia and Greece.
“At TGR-WRT we are continuously looking to give chances to talented young drivers and Rally Estonia is a fantastic opportunity for Oliver and Elliott to get a taste once again of the highest level. The fast gravel roads suit Oliver well and will really give him a chance to experience the performance of the Rally1 car and the step up compared to Rally2, and we are looking forward to seeing how he gets on.”
