Good things come to those who wait, and for Norwegian superstar Peter Solberg, his return to the World Rally Championship has already been heralded around the world.
The 2003 World Champion – in fact, the last man not named Sebastien to win the WRC – will make his long-awaited return driving Volkswagen’s brand new Polo GTi R5 at the Rally Catalunya in Spain in late October.
Petter hasn’t contested a WRC round since 2012 when he was a part of the factory Ford team, and with the emergence of his 17-year old son, Oliver, it looked like the career of the 43-year old was coming to an end.
You can’t keep a good man down, however, and his return to the WRC next month will be one of the most anticipated for some time, given his popularity around the world.
I’ve seen plenty of Petter’s highs and lows over the years, including when his chances of taking victory at Rally Australia in Perth were shattered (literally) when a kangaroo holed the radiator of his Subaru World Rally Car.
It left a distraught Solberg – hyped up and emotional at the best of times – close to tears as he walked back to the Bunnings service park.
A few years later, at Rally New Zealand in 2012, I had the good fortune to watch Solberg from the luxury of a Bell helicopter as he and his Ford Focus danced their way along a flowing North Island stage just out of Raglan.
What made the flight all the more memorable was that I was sharing the ride with Petter’s wife, Pernilla, and his 10-year old son, Oliver.
The baby-faced youngster seemed more interested in playing with his computer game than watching his father hundreds of feet below, but even then you could tell young Oliver was set for a big career in motorsport.
Sporting his own “Oliver Solberg 80” cap, he was already on his way to winning the Norwegian Crosskart Championship in 2012, and from then on, his rise up the motorsport ladder was always going to be a fast one
He’s driven a range of cars since then, including his World Rally Car debut at last year’s Bologna Motor Show rallycross event, where he finished second to another young gun, Kalle Rovanpera.
Then, just recently, he sat beside nine-time World Rally Champion, Sebastien Loeb, in a test session to fast-track his tarmac rally experience.
With Petter back in the WRC (albeit temporarily), and with Oliver’s WRC debut surely not that far way, it’s clear that we haven’t seen the last of the Solberg name – not by a long shot.
Oh, and did I mention that Oliver’s uncle, Henning Solberg, just finished sixth outright in the Rally of Turkey, the best of the R5 cars home?
Maybe it’s true. There really is nothing new under the sun.
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