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Petter Solberg
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Petter "Hollywood" Solberg (born November 18, 1974 in Askim), from Spydeberg in Østfold, Norway, is a professional rally driver. He won the WRC Drivers' Championship in 2003, driving for the Subaru World Rally Team. Following Subaru's withdrawal from the WRC at the end of the 2008 season, Petter was potentially without a drive for 2009, however with private backing he is rallying a 2006 spec Citroën Xsara.
erg 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.
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Encyclopedia
Petter "Hollywood" Solberg (born November 18, 1974 in Askim), from Spydeberg in Østfold, Norway, is a professional rally driver. He won the WRC Drivers' Championship in 2003, driving for the Subaru World Rally Team. Following Subaru's withdrawal from the WRC at the end of the 2008 season, Petter was potentially without a drive for 2009, however with private backing he is rallying a 2006 spec Citroën Xsara.
Career
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).
WRC career
By this time and with the aid of his compatriot John "Mr Škoda" Haugland, who helped him on events in the late 1990s, 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.
2000s
In 2000, however, Solberg was able to leave Ford's M-Sport outfit prematurely, due to an insufficient contract, 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.
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. Welcoming a new team-mate for the year in Australian Chris Atkinson, who replaced the disappointing Finn who had been the former Champion's SWRT team-mate throughout 2004, Mikko Hirvonen, Solberg started his 2005 season brightly as he sought an immediate answer to Loeb, the Norwegian winning two of the first three events, in Sweden and Mexico. These successes coincided 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.
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.
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, as well as being bested by his brother, Henning, in the race for the final podium place on the siblings' home event - Rally Norway. In Mexico, Argentina and Sardinia Petter struggled with his Impreza - technical problems caused two retirements and a plummet down the leaderboard in Italy. Good pace in Portugal 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.
Despite Subaru's confidence in their car performance and reliability built up during summer break tests, 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. 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. New Zealand event was another problem-ridden outing for Solberg - he described the handling difficulties as similar to those experienced in Finland earlier. 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. 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, caused him to slip down to fifth, behind young Jari-Matti Latvala. 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. He later rejoined the competition under SupeRally format and finished 16th, managing to score two points in Manufacturers' Championship. On the day of his 33rd 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. 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. This result allowed SWRT to reclaim third place in Manufacturers' Championship.
Petter Solberg ended the 2007 season in fifth place. He also took part in the 2007 Race of Champions, representing Norway, along with his brother, Henning. 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.
2008 season
For 2008, Solberg and Atkinson were retained by SWRT as driving staff. A radical new hatchback homologation of the long-serving Subaru Impreza, the WRC2008, debuted on the Acropolis Rally, marked by the Norwegian collecting a runner-up spot to Loeb.
2009 season
Subaru announced on December 16 2008 that they would not be participating in the World Rally Championship any longer, a mere day after Suzuki announced their retirement. Petter and co-driver Phil Mills were left without a ride. Looking at their options with the remaining teams they had to sit out the season opening Rally Ireland.
After careful evaluation of several privateer options including Ford and Citroën cars, Solberg confirmed having acquired (most likely leased) a Citroën Xsara WRC (in 2006 WRC specs) as of January 25th 2009, and that Phil Mills and himself would return to the WRC in a privateer team for the 2009 Rally Norway. On February 1 2009, Solberg indicated that 5 sponsors for the 2009 season are in place. The sponsors announced were Microsoft, Pareto, Hurtigruta Carglass and two undisclosed sponsors.
It took some time to adopt to the new car during their first round in Norway, but eventually Petter and Phil managed to secure a 6th place and 3 points in the drivers' championship.
Petter Solberg World Rally Team
On February 6 2009, Solberg officially unveiled the , with himself as driver and Phil Mills as codriver. The team will serve Solberg and his 2006 Citroën Xsara WRC with active suspension and diffs. A 13 member team, PSWRT employs ex-Subaru World Rally Team members Ken Rees as team manager, and François-Xavier "FX" Demaison as chief engineer. The PSWRT also returns Solberg's personal friend and ex-SWRT member, Tore Dahl, to the WRC scene as a mechanic. Swede Sven-Inge Neby, for about 40 years the engineer of Petter's father-in-law Per-Inge Walfridsson and his brothers Lars-Erik Walfridsson and Stig-Olov Walfridsson, is another support to the international team.
WRC victories
| No. | Event | Season | Co-driver | Car |
|---|
| 1 | | 2002 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 2 | 31st Cyprus Rally | 2003 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 3 | 16th Telstra Rally Australia | 2003 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 4 | | 2003 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 5 | | 2003 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 6 | 34th Propecia Rally New Zealand | 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 7 | 51st Acropolis Rally | 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 8 | 1st Rally Japan | 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 9 | | 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 10 | 1º Supermag Rally d'Italia Sardinia | 2004 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 11 | 54th Uddeholm Swedish Rally | 2005 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 12 | 19º Corona Rally México | 2005 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC | | 13 | | 2005 | Phil Mills | Subaru Impreza WRC |
WRC results
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.
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