Petter Solberg

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Petter Solberg

Petter Solberg during the 2006 Rally Australia.
World Rally Championship record
Nationality Flag of Norway Norwegian
Active years 1998 - present
Teams Ford, Subaru
World rallies 131
Championships 1 (2003)
Wins 13
Podium finishes 35
Stage wins 315
Points 385
First world rally 1998 Swedish Rally
First win 2002 Rally Great Britain

Petter "Hollywood" Solberg (born November 18, 1974 in Askim), from Spydeberg i Østfold, Norway, is a professional rally driver. He won the WRC Drivers' Championship in 2003, driving for the Subaru World Rally Team.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Solberg won a nationwide RC car championship at the age of 13 as he inherited his interest of motorsport through his parents, mother Tove and father Terje, who were keen bilcross (an "inexpensive version" of Norwegian rallycross, similar to Swedish folkrace and Finnish jokamiehenluokka) competitors and rallycross enthusisasts. He used to help out around the home farm rebuilding competition cars, as he was not yet old enough to drive. Solberg entered his first bilcross in 1992, three days after his 18th birthday and only a day after he got his driving license. He went on to become Norwegian champion in rallycross as well as hillclimb in both 1995 (winning 19 out of 21 events) and 1996 (winning 15 out of 19 events). In 1998, he became the Norwegian Rally Champion (older brother Henning won this title five times in a row between 1999 and 2003).

[edit] WRC career

By this time and the aid of his compatriot John "Mr Škoda" Haugland, who helped him on events in the late 1990s,[1] the World Rally Championship team bosses were starting to recognize Solberg's potential and by the end of 1998, after winning a comparative test drive, he agreed to drive for three years as a junior pilot for the Ford Motor Company. Initially expected by Malcolm Wilson to maintain a somewhat lower profile, Solberg actually became a nominated points-scorer for Ford on, of all events, the gruelling test that was the Safari Rally in early 1999, after usual understudy to the team's star driver Colin McRae, Thomas Rådström, suffered an injury and was subsequently ruled out from taking part.

[edit] 2000s

Solberg at the 2001 Rally Finland.
Solberg at the 2001 Rally Finland.

In 2000, however, Solberg left Ford's M-Sport outfit prematurely, to sign with the Prodrive Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT), then led by a driving staff of Richard Burns and Juha Kankkunen. His first podium had to wait until the Acropolis Rally, Greece the following year, as an altruistic Solberg forsook as many of his own points as possible, as he did in dropping voluntarily from 4th to 5th in Sanremo, to assist his senior team-mate Burns in sneaking to the title.

In 2002, with four-time champion Tommi Mäkinen installed as his new team-mate in the light of Burns' departure to Peugeot, Solberg won his first ever WRC event in Wales (Wales Rally GB) after a consistent display of driving prowess and an unlikely accident by Marcus Grönholm. In 2003, Solberg beat fellow WRC young-gun, Citroen-mounted Sébastien Loeb at the Wales Rally GB, launching him to his second win in Wales and his first (and to date, only) World Rally Championship title.

Solberg at the 2005 Cyprus Rally.
Solberg at the 2005 Cyprus Rally.

In his title defence, however, Solberg's winning of five of a possible sixteen events, including the hat-trick making Wales Rally GB, proved insufficient to deny the title to a now increasingly efficient Loeb. On Solberg's part, a perhaps unfortunate string of bad luck was encapsulated by three DNFs (retirements) in mid-season. He started brightly as the 2005 season began as he sought an immediate answer to Loeb, the Norwegian winning two of the first three events, in Sweden and Mexico, his success coinciding with the early seizing of a championship lead. He was, however, soon overtaken by a rampant Loeb, and was left to score 71 points for the year, pipping Peugeot's Marcus Grönholm to the championship runner-up spot on a tie break. He added an unwanted Wales Rally GB win after the death in a day three crash of fellow competitor Markko Martin's co-driver, Michael Park, with Loeb sacrificing his victory on the road in order to avoid having to simultaneously celebrate the title.

Solberg won three rallies in all, though was severely affected by bad luck while challenging for wins at the end of the season, most notably on the Telstra Rally Australia, where he was forced to retire after striking a wayward kangaroo.

Solberg with his Subaru Impreza WRC at the 2006 Rally Argentina.
Solberg with his Subaru Impreza WRC at the 2006 Rally Argentina.
Solberg interviewed during 2006 Rally Australia.
Solberg interviewed during 2006 Rally Australia.

For 2006, Solberg continued his partnership with the Subaru team, driving a new version of the Impreza WRC. His main sponsor was 24SevenOffice with a 5 million kroner sponsorship deal, a Norwegian record. His results, though, proved patchy in comparison to Loeb. While Loeb went on to register five rally victories on the bounce in a privately (Kronos) run Citroën Xsara WRC, his winning of the title unhampered even by breaking his arm at an advanced stage of the season, Solberg could only comparatively muster a handful of runner-up places on rallies all season - in Mexico, Argentina and Australia. Failure to claw his way any higher than sixth in the year's final points standings duly brought an end to the chain of top three drivers' championship appearances which Subaru had enjoyed since 1994.

[edit] 2007 season

The Norwegian did, at least, get his 2007 season off to a rather more auspicious start, managing a joint-career-best finish of sixth place on the Rally Monte Carlo. He surrendered a potential third place finish in Sweden after a substantial time loss,[2] as well as being bested by his brother, Henning, in the race for the final podium place on the siblings' home event - Rally Norway.[3] In Mexico, Argentina and Sardinia Petter struggled with his Impreza - technical problems caused two retirements and a plummet down the leaderboard in Italy.[4][5][6] Good pace in Portugal[7] and taking third place on the Acropolis Rally at least appeared to mark a turnaround in the quality of the younger Solberg's results, although even Greek event wasn't problem-free for the Norwegian as he experienced some damper problems.[8]

Solberg with his Subaru Impreza WRC2007 at the 2007 Rally GB.
Solberg with his Subaru Impreza WRC2007 at the 2007 Rally GB.

Despite Subaru's confidence in their car performance and reliability built up during summer break tests,[9] Impreza S12A failed again - Solberg had to retire on day two in Finland, after monstrous handling and steering problems which engineers were unable to deal with.[10][11] On the next round, Rallye Deutschland, where he finished sixth, car by itself was reliable, but Norwegian hit the rock on the SS5 heavily damaging the steering, which had cost him considerable amount of time because the team wasn't able to fully repair such vast impairment.[12] New Zealand event was another problem-ridden outing for Solberg - he described the handling difficulties as similar to those experienced in Finland earlier.[13] Next round, Rally Catalunya, wasn't easy for Solberg too - he struggled to maintain the good pace and in the end finished sixth, almost 3 minutes adrift from the winner, Loeb. He was however pleased with changes in setup made for day 3, which seemed promising for the following 2007 Tour de Corse.[14] Unfortunately for the Norwegian setup wasn't as good and he had problems with handling again which, along with a stalled engine on the start of SS5,[15] caused him to slip down to fifth, behind young Jari-Matti Latvala.[16] In Japan, his team's home event, Petter noted few top-ten times on the early stages, but crashed badly on SS5 then, probably due to damage sustained in accident, his gearbox locked in sixth gear, forcing his retirement for the day.[17] He later rejoined the competition under SupeRally format and finished 16th, managing to score two points in Manufacturers' Championship. On the day of his 33th birthday Solberg finished fifth in 1st Rally Ireland, calling it "the most difficult rally he has ever done"; also he found his car's performance better than in previous events.[18] On the final event of the season, Wales Rally GB, Solberg had consistent pace and won the battle for fourth with Spaniard Dani Sordo even though the Norwegian hit a rock in the morning and again had some minor driving issues.[19] This result allowed SWRT to reclaim third place in Manufacturers' Championship.

Petter Solberg ended the 2007 season in fifth place.[20] He also took part in the 2007 Race of Champions, representing Norway, along with his brother, Henning.[21] He didn't manage to win the first race with David Coulthard, but in Nation's Cup Norwegian brothers made their way to the semi-finals.

[edit] WRC victories

No. Event Season Co-driver Car
1 Flag of the United Kingdom 58th Network Q Rally of Great Britain 2002 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
2 Flag of Cyprus 31st Cyprus Rally 2003 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
3 Flag of Australia 16th Telstra Rally Australia 2003 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
4 Flag of France 47ème Tour de Corse - Rallye de France 2003 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
5 Flag of the United Kingdom 59th Wales Rally of Great Britain 2003 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
6 Flag of New Zealand 34th Propecia Rally New Zealand 2004 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
7 Flag of Greece 51st Acropolis Rally 2004 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
8 Flag of Japan 1st Rally Japan 2004 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
9 Flag of the United Kingdom 60th Wales Rally of Great Britain 2004 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
10 Flag of Italy 1º Supermag Rally d'Italia Sardinia 2004 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
11 Flag of Sweden 54th Uddeholm Swedish Rally 2005 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
12 Flag of Mexico 19º Corona Rally México 2005 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC
13 Flag of the United Kingdom 61st Wales Rally of Great Britain 2005 Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC

[edit] Family

He is married to a Swede, Pernilla Walfridsson, with whom he has a son, Oliver. Pernilla is the daughter of former Volvo factory driver and 1980 European Rallycross Champion, Per-Inge "Pi" Walfridsson (who also claimed a remarkable 4th overall in the 1973 RAC Rally). She was also, for some time, rated as possibly the world's fastest female rally driver.

[edit] References

  1. ^ WINTER RALLY SCHOOL, John Haugland, Norway. hauglandmotorsport.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  2. ^ "Official: Petter withdrawn.", Crash.net, 2007-02-10. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  3. ^ "Henning carries Stobart to maiden podium.", Crash.net, 2007-02-18. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  4. ^ "NEWS FLASH: Petter retires from leg.", Crash.net, 2007-03-09. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  5. ^ "NEWS FLASH: Petter out.", Crash.net, 2007-05-05. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  6. ^ "Petter: I simply couldn't attack.", Crash.net, 2007-05-19. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  7. ^ "Petter: More to come from '07 spec Impreza.", Crash.net, 2007-04-02. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  8. ^ "Damper issues drop Petter to third.", Crash.net, 2007-06-02. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  9. ^ "Petter: We've found solution to 'biggest problem'.", Crash.net, 2007-07-20. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  10. ^ "NEWS FLASH: Petter pulls out of leg 2.", Crash.net, 2007-08-04. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  11. ^ "Subaru: Petter's car not safe...", Crash.net, 2007-08-04. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  12. ^ "Petter hits rock.", Crash.net, 2007-08-17. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  13. ^ "Handling problems slow Petter - again.", Crash.net, 2007-08-31. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  14. ^ "Petter: I'm sure it will be better in Corsica...", Crash.net, 2007-10-07. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  15. ^ "Stall costs Petter P4.", Crash.net, 2007-10-12. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  16. ^ "'Incredible' Latvala beats Petter to P4.", Crash.net, 2007-10-14. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  17. ^ "Petter says sorry to Subaru's fans.", Crash.net, 2007-10-26. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  18. ^ "Petter: It's the most difficult rally I've done.", Crash.net, 2007-11-18. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  19. ^ "Solberg helps Subaru reclaim third.", Crash.net, 2007-12-02. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. 
  20. ^ "Final World Rally Championship standings.", Crash.net, 2007-12-02. Retrieved on 2007-12-17. 
  21. ^ RACE OF CHAMPIONS - 2007 Wembley Stadium - the drivers. raceofchampions.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.

[edit] External links

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See also: List of drivers · List of records