Hyundai Motorsport driver Oliver Solberg will be co-driven by former Subaru Motorsports USA team-mate Craig Drew on next week’s Rally Finland.
Solberg parted company with Aaron Johnston following the Acropolis Rally, with that decision being announced last week.
Johnston will sit alongside Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta for Finland – acting as Katsuta’s third co-driver in as many World Rally Championship rallies.
Both co-drivers will be working on a trial basis, with no commitment beyond Finland’s round of the WRC for Johnston nor Drew.
Photo: David Cosseboom
Drew (pictured above) has co-driven for 10-time US rally champion David Higgins since 2011, including in the 2019 American Rally Association series when Solberg was competing for the same team.
The Briton has won eight American titles with Higgins, but he lands into the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 short on WRC experience. Drew has only started three WRC rounds in his career, all of them being his home event, Rally GB.
“Craig is a good guy, a former team-mate and somebody I know well,” Solberg said. “I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Drew added: “I’m grateful for the Solberg family and Hyundai Motorsport for giving me the opportunity. It’s a tough event to jump into a new car and with a new driver but, having worked as team-mate to Oliver in 2019, it won’t take us long to gel.
“We’ll be sure to work hard together on the pre-event test to find a rhythm with Oliver’s pacenote system and prepare for this iconic event as much as we can.”
Adrien Fourmaux is the third factory driver competing with a new voice in his ear next week, as Alexandre Coria replaces Renaud Jamoul in the co-driving seat of the M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC.
Coria, who regularly navigates for Yohan Rossel in WRC3, will however also be with Fourmaux for Rally Spain later in October.
