Oliver Solberg’s Tarmac form has been tricky since graduating to Toyota’s Rally1 car in 2026.
While he won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, wintry conditions limited the number of pure asphalt stages competitors tackled.
However on the three pure Tarmac rallies Solberg has started in a GR Yaris Rally1, he’s suffered an accident that’s put him out for the day (on Friday in Croatia, Sunday in Gran Canaria and Saturday at Rally Japan).
“Tarmac for sure has been tough now lately, for sure,” Solberg said. “I can keep saying on Tarmac the speed has been fantastic, and you know, [I’ve been] fighting with the two best guys in the world every time and consistently.
“[But] the margins are very small on this level in Rally1 and I think that’s what I just need to try to understand better in all these different scenarios that’s been happening on Tarmac with tricky places. I don’t really have an answer for it at the moment.”
Solberg has had a tricky time on Tarmac - but that doesn't mean he's necessarily weaker on it
However one man who does have an answer is Toyota technical director Tom Fowler.
He doesn’t believe Solberg has a specific issue on Tarmac events, but the errors he’s making are punished more severely than on gravel.
“On gravel, you can make mistakes and get away with it. On Tarmac, if you make a mistake, you get punished normally quite immediately,” Fowler wrote in his exclusive column for Club DirtFish.
“So I don’t think there’s an issue on a surface. I think there’s maybe a general approach, which is a little bit too aggressive that has resulted in Tarmac being punished very quickly and on gravel getting away with a few things. So I wouldn’t look at it from a surface point of view.”
Fowler conceded that Solberg would benefit from cleaning up his driving, but his speed is invaluable to the team.
“Going forward, I think the important thing for him and the team is to work out a way how to harness that speed that he clearly has, but reducing the risk and therefore eliminating more of the mistakes,” Fowler added.
“It’s all about working on it together, because making rash statements or punishments or changes is not going to help anything. I really think now that we just have to work with him even more closely each time something like this happens because there’s absolutely no doubt that the speed he shows… it’s a level of speed which is upsetting other drivers massively.
“They’re wondering: ‘How the hell does he do that…’ until he makes a mistake. And then they say: ‘Well, that’s what happens.'”
If you want to read more insight from Fowler on life as Toyota’s technical director in the World Rally Championship and beyond, join Club DirtFish where he writes a regular column
