WRC
The backseat driver lessons that have become Solberg’s strength
2025 will forever be etched in the mind of Oliver Solberg. Scoring a stunning breakthrough outright WRC victory, followed by a maiden WRC2 title - it has been nothing short of sensational.
But success only arrives after years of hard work and learning lessons, often the hard way. Although, hard graft has a habit of turning into strengths that can last an entire career.
Being the son of the 2003 world rally champion Petter Solberg, Oliver had one of the best to learn from. It is these early lessons that formed valuable career foundations which have turned into strengths, helping Oliver deliver a 2025 headlined by a Delfi Rally Estonia win and a WRC2 title.
Speaking on the latest episode of the WRC Backstories Podcast, hosted by Becs Williams, Oliver Solberg lifted the lid on some of the traits he learned in sometimes unusual circumstances.
“It is thanks to [my father] what I know today. I can adapt to cars and Estonia is a great example of what I need in a car to jump in it quickly, and that is thanks to my father from what I learned at a very young age,” said Solberg.
Oliver with father Petter, the 2003 WRC champion
© WRC
Oliver’s first taste of driving arrived at the tender age of eight years old. It wasn’t long before a teenage Solberg was rallying in Latvia well before he was old enough to own a driving licence. That in itself meant his co-driver at the time, Veronica Gulbæk Engan, had to drive the road sections during events. But when it came to making pace notes, Oliver was relegated to the backseat of the recce car. It's here where valuable lessons that will live with him forever were stored in his rally brain.
“My dad had to do my pace notes as I was too young [when I started rallying]. Not many know about that, it is a good story,” said Oliver Solberg.
“It was the same situation, I was too young to drive on the road sections and recce is on the open roads so my dad had the co-driver next to him and I sat in the back seat. My dad did all the pace notes and he said he would make them as he thought they should be. I understood absolutely nothing for the first six months I think.
“He had one pace note which said ‘gap’ and that means a crest that looks like it went right, but it went left, and that is a typical place where it is open and there is a big gap in the forest or something. It is open but you don’t see where it goes. I think for the first six months I didn’t know what that was and then I was like, 'dad, what does this actually mean?' Eventually I learned it.”
© WRC
Today, Solberg says the basis of his pace notes remain the same, albeit with less detail. But the 24-year-old remains eternally grateful to have learned the craft this hard way as it has reduced the need to over-rely on onboard videos to memorise the roads today.
“For sure, he [my father] taught me that pace notes are very important, and these days, it is very easy to go too much into the video direction and too much learning the road and not focusing on your pace notes,” Solberg added.
“He taught me the hard way, but when you come to a new rally and new roads, and you don’t have videos, your pace notes need to work as well on a new rally as on a rally you know. I think that is where my strength is as well in all fairness.
“When I came to Estonia [this year], many of the stages were brand-new but I could do the same speed on the stages I knew compered to those I didn’t know. It has been the same on many rallies this year, especially when I come to a new rally - I know I have an advantage in Rally2 at least.
“I think that is what I’m very grateful for, is that my dad taught me the hard way that you need to make good consistent pace notes, so you understand them and when it is a brand-new road you drive the same speed.
© WRC
“I have never really been a video guy to learn the roads, and I’m still not to be honest. I think there is a balance and just because the other guys are doing it doesn’t mean you should be doing it.
“Everyone does it very differently today and obviously everyone watches videos, but there is a big difference about how much you watch it, and I think some people rely solely on the video. I watch it of course, but I try to find a balance to how much I want to remember. I feel I have found a good balance.”
Listen to the full WRC Backstories Podcast to find out the sports that could have taken Solberg away from rallying, the rally driver he looked up to, how he battled through the hardest year of his life and how he bounced back to win the WRC2 title and Rally Estonia.
