Petter
Solberg's
WRC highs
and lows

And the lows...

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Crashing heavily in Germany 2004: Solberg was never really one for having big, big crashes. But this one was the exception. Not far off the start line on the Panzerplatte stage, his Impreza WRC got out of shape and hit a hinkelstein - the car rolled and landed on top of another one of the solid tank guiders. The resultant impact smashed the roll cage, but Solberg and Phil Mills walked away thanks to one very, very tough Subaru (pictured).

Going off the road in France 2012: Sliding wide at one left-hander, Solberg drops his Fiesta into a vineyard. Knowing the road comes back around, he keeps his foot flat to the boards, smashing his way through the would-be-Reisling. Unbeknown to him, he shoots over the road and into a power line, levelling the line and sending the surrounding villages into darkness.

Subaru withdraws 2008: More than three years since Subaru won at the highest level, the Japanese firm withdrew from the WRC at the end of 2008. Some had seen the decision coming, Solberg hadn’t. It floored him and left him without a drive for 2009. Fortunately, he bounced back in the strongest possible fashion - by starting his own team and setting fastest time on the first ever stage he did with his team.

Tears in Finland 2007: Slap bang in the middle of Subaru’s darkest days, Solberg was at a complete loss in Jyvaskyla. In years gone by he’d fought tooth and nail to win this same rally - he’d been the king of Ouninpohja, with the fastest time ever through the stage a couple of years earlier. And now this. He couldn’t fathom the car at all. He was all at sea and his emotions got the better of him on his way into service. He looked like a broken man.

No drive for 2013: Solberg has never made any bones about the fact that rallying and the WRC is his life - he even wrote it on the back of his Citroen Xsara - and now, at least for next year, he’s got to find something else to do. Solberg has the speed to win rallies and maybe another title, he just doesn’t have the seat to do it in.

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