WRC
Solberg: Sweden showed reality of leading WRC
Oliver Solberg admits Rally Sweden delivered a sharp lesson in the realities of leading the FIA World Rally Championship after a challenging home event in Umeå earlier this month.
Arriving in Scandinavia fresh from victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo, the Swede faced the unenviable task of opening the road on Friday’s snow-covered stages at Rally Sweden. Running first on the road, Solberg was sweeping loose snow for those behind and struggled for grip on the morning loop. An early off into a snowbank caused a puncture and effectively ended his hopes of fighting for victory.
“Yeah, I think I understood how difficult it was going to be for the whole weekend – especially Friday,” Solberg said. “It was harder than I expected. I underestimated it a bit.
“On Friday morning, with the puncture, maybe that cost me P3. But honestly, I don’t think I deserved much more than P3 this weekend. And for sure, [the Wolf Power Stage wasn’t the best. I made a small mistake at the beginning of the stage, and after that I was a bit too careful.”
The experience underlined the strategic compromise that comes with championship leadership on loose-surface events. Nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier has recently avoided Sweden when leading the standings after Monte-Carlo, aware of the sweeping disadvantage.
Solberg now understands that logic first-hand.
“Like Ogier said, that’s why he doesn’t normally go to Sweden after he wins Monte Carlo,” he smiled. “He said it would be pain - and it was a little bit painful, yes.”
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Fourth place means Solberg surrendered the championship lead to Sweden winner Elfyn Evans, but the gap remains manageable at 13 points heading to next month's Safari Rally Kenya.
“It’s not so bad. Right now I’m very disappointed. But championship-wise, it’s not so bad,” he said. “I’m not too far off Elfyn, so I’m happy enough.”
Before then, Solberg plans to reset.
“We have a warm-weather test and a few sponsor events, and we’re going on vacation as well,” he explained. “I will switch off. Just reset and restart, and then we’re pretty cool.”
