World RX – Petter Solberg joins forces with Volkswagen

2017 will be the year of change for Petter Solberg. After competing in the first three seasons of World RX with a DS3 RX Supercar, the Norwegian, who was exploring several options to attract a manufacturer, will finally compete in a Volkswagen Polo RX Supercar, entered by the PSRX – Volkswagen Sweden.

The double 2014 – 2015 world champion in the discipline will be associated with the Swede Johan Kristoffersson, 2016 world vice-champion, within of a structure which will receive technical support from Volkswagen Motorsport, while remaining based in the PSRX premises.

“We look forward to working together with Petter Solberg and Volkswagen Sweden in the World Championship Rallycross, explains Sven Smeets, boss of the Motorsport division of the Wolfsburg brand.

After the great success with the Beetle in the Global Rallycross Challenge in the United States and the realignment of our company towards customer teams (after stopping the program WRC, Editor’s note), expansion into World RX is the next logical step.
 
Based on our knowledge and success in GRC and WRC, we will build the Volkswagen Polo RX Supercars and provide technical support. The Petter Solberg team and Volkswagen Sweden will take care of the operation of the entire project. This enhanced cooperation provides everything needed to succeed. »

If in 2015, Volkswagen Team Sweden fielded Johan Kristoffersson and Tord Linnerud, the team joined forces last year with Marklund Motorsport, creating the Volkswagen RX Sweden. The team led by Jan Marklund had recently decided to refocus its attention on Euro RX for 2017.

The Solberg – Kristoffersson duo should benefit from a good card to play, against the Audi S1 ​​EKS RX, Peugeot 208 from Team Peugeot-Hansen or Ford Focus RS RX from the Hoonigan Racing Division. With the stated aim of playing the leading roles.

“With the support of Volkswagen Sweden and Johan Kristoffersson as a teammate, anything is possible, admits Solberg. From the start we will aim for the top places in the championship, that is my priority for 2017. I want that for my PSRX team and for Volkswagen Sweden.
 
My whole team worked so hard for so many years to be able to get this deal done and now we're here, it's fantastic. It really is the dream for me. We have so much potential now, but we also have a lot of work to do – but what an incredible future. »