Rossel wins case against Solberg, more under pressure than ever

Although he climbed onto the roof of his Citroën with his co-driver Florian Barral to celebrate his victory in Chile, Yohan Rossel still had to wait before it became official. The winner on paper, the Nîmes native saw Oliver Solberg lodge a complaint with the stewards.

Just off the podium in Chile, with a win that would have secured him the WRC2 title, the Swede has asked for the result to be reviewed. In his sights? The 40 seconds that were taken away from the Frenchman for allegedly being hindered when Oliver Solberg got back on the road after a puncture on SS11.

Obviously, the championship leader did not agree because it offered the possibility to his rival for the title to remain in contention for the victory. I saw his dash cam and then mine, and I didn't bother him in any way., Solberg believed. Also, it was so foggy and rainy that there was no dust either, so I'm not really sure why he complained. »

However, this was rejected because the FIA's sporting regulations do not allow stewards to " review their decisions through a complaint. » As a result, Yohan Rossel has indeed retained his Chilean success, and above all comes back to 12 units from Oliver Solberg while he still has a rally to be played (Central Europe, October 17-20), before the count (the six best results are taken into account) and the leader can no longer score points. It was a very difficult rally, thanks to all my team, it's never easy when you fight for the win all weekend, it's so tight,” he smiled.

With Yohan Rossel and Sami Pajari still having one round to play, Oliver Solberg sees the noose tightening. Will he hold on? First element of answer in a few weeks before the outcome in Japan (November 21-24).

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