World Rally Championship leader Oliver Solberg has admitted he underestimated the task of running first on the road through Friday’s opening leg of Rally Sweden.
While the Toyota driver ended the day with a second scratch time, he remained sixth overall after a mistake-ridden morning aboard his GR Yaris Rally1. Sitting 51 seconds behind team-mate and overnight leader Takamoto Katsuta, Solberg talked DirtFish through his day.
“When you look at last night,” he said, “it looked fantastic with the conditions. And when I came this morning, it was so much snow and difficult really to find the rhythm and what to do.
“I’ve never experienced it before, so I have to say I probably underestimated it a bit how difficult it was going to be. Other than that, you know, this afternoon was probably even more difficult. I tried a bit of a different tire strategy as well, you know, because from my starting position, I can’t do anything extra.”
Solberg, who went off the road on the third stage, admitted the absence of snowbanks wasn’t helping.
Solberg's target is the podium - a win looks out of reach
He added: “The rear goes a little bit everywhere being first on the road. Last year maybe it was possible, but this year when there’s no snowbanks, as you can see. It’s not easy.”
Asked what he thought was possible in terms of a result and a potential first home win for a Swedish driver since 1997, the 24-year-old reflected: “Right now, I’m looking at the podium, first of all. That’s the main goal, to stay consistent. And I think that’s a good chance. It’s a long shot to go up to the first and second. Let’s see.”
Friday night’s provisional podium is an all-Toyota affair with Elfyn Evans just 2.8 seconds behind Katsuta and Sami Pajari third.
After a troubled season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, Pajari is happy to be back at the sharp end of the field.
Pajari is putting the problems of Monte Carlo behind him
“Monte was really disappointing for myself,” said the Finn. “That’s not a surprise for anyone. But basically, now I feel more like the last few races of last season [when it] was really decent and we were starting to be, let’s say, quite familiar with the fight for the podium places already.
“Today has been quite fine. It’s nice to be in the podium place and it’s a really long way to go – but we are not too far from the lead even. If we really start to push tomorrow morning, maybe we can catch up. But also the guys behind us, I think they are having some fight between themselves, so I guess they also try to catch me.
“It would be too soon to say anything more, but it’s pretty decent so far.”
