Oliver Solberg learns to smile again

After a few difficult months within a Hyundai team where nothing was easy for him, the Swede was unceremoniously ousted. Not defeated, the last representative of this illustrious motorsport family has returned to battle.

Published on 05/03/2023 à 13:30

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Oliver Solberg relaunches in WRC2 © Nikos Katikis / DPPI

So in New Zealand, the entire caravan of WRC was preparing to make the long journey back to Europe when the management of Hyundai had called Petter Solberg on Sunday evening to tell him that Oliver would not be retained in the 2023 squad. The latter only had to announce the news to his son... The announcement was surprising, as was its timing . The manner, on the other hand, had been in keeping with the spirit of the times.

Oliver Solberg at Rally from Sweden © Red Bull

With his only baggage behind the wheel of a WRC being his four appearances in the World Cup in 2021 (best result: 5th at Monza), the Nordic hope started 2022 with the certainty of sharing the rounds with Dani Sordo. The latter not forcing himself to be lined up, Oliver was able to compete in eight out of thirteen. It hadn't all been easy for the kid from Torsby. As part of a team lagging behind after the delay accumulated due to the inertia of Korean leaders in launching the development of a hybrid Rally1, he had sometimes had to deal with a car that did not meet his expectations in terms of settings. As often happens in a program