With three FIA World Championship titles to his name and the only driver to ever be crowned FIA World Champion in two different disciplines, Petter Solberg is no stranger in the world of motorsport. While many will know Solberg for his 2003 World Rally Championship title with Subaru World Rally Team, he actually began his foray into competitive motorsport in rallycross in his home country of Norway back in 1992.
Solberg has been competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship since its inception in 2014, and won the first two titles as a privateer in his Citroen DS3. He's now running the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team and competes with teammate Johan Kristoffersson. We caught up with him on the weekend at Lydden Hill, ahead of Round 5 of the WRX. [This interview had been edited and condensed for flow].
What cars do you have in your garage back home?
"Rally cars; I have many of them. I have my championship winning Subaru from 2003 and a Petter Solberg Edition that they created when I was World Champion. I have a Pontiac from the 1930s, a Lotus 7, a Porsche GT3 RS, a military Humvee, a McLaren 675 Spider and a Volkswagen Touareg that I use the most to name a few."
Commitment is guaranteed with Solberg!
Who influenced you to start rallying?
"Henning and I got into motorsport ourselves, our parents were never really that interested. We must have built over 50 of our own autocross cars and we won so many trophies together; we were pretty much unbeaten at the time. Tommi Makinen was an iconic driver for me, I remember camping in the forests in Sweden and watching him drive flat out, and then I was teammate with him when I was world champion."
What achievements are you most proud of?
"The three world titles are good of course, but I'm also proud of the Norwegian titles I won and the radio control car championship I won back when I was 14. So many good areas and happy memories, I'm very proud of everything I've achieved."
How have you found the transition from rallying into rallycross and how has it changed your driving?
"I don't think it has changed my driving style so much, but there's more planning and thinking about how to control yourself and not pushing to the limit on the first lap in rallycross. You can never drive like you want to straight away, it's too risky. It's only when I get out in front that I can increase the speed and really go flat out, but really I think my driving style is very similar to rallying before."
Do you find rallycross less or more challenging that rallying?
"If you're good in rally then your skills are transferable to rallycross easily enough. But to try and do it the other way around it's not really a comparison, rally is a different world and it takes so much more time and experience to build up the skill. Rallycross is easier to pick up and more accessible for drivers from more traditional circuit racing; the circuits are short which makes it much easier than stage rallying."
How are you finding being part of a team compared to competing as a privateer?
"It's still my team that runs everything; it's not run by Volkswagen as some people may think. We do everything ourselves as a team as we have done before, it's still the same team as last year with the same people. But the difference now is we work with Volkswagen to develop the cars and have their support, and with a bigger budget we can employ more people, which does make life easier than before. Now I've very satisfied with what we have as a team."
It's great to see other well-known drivers coming into WRX. Do you think WRX will overtake WRC in popularity?
"I think rallying will always be rallying and rallycross will always remain separate, it's difficult to compare them. This sport is very good, it's growing very fast as it's great for TV and really good fun to watch. It is growing faster than rally for sure."
PSRX VW Sweden team doing very well!
Are you encouraging your son into motorsport?
"I didn't have to encourage Oliver into rallycross at all, he did it himself. He started out in Crosskart, then he tested my car and drove very well. I joked with him that if he could get his licence he could drive my car thinking he would never be able to do it, but he got his licence through Latvia and he came third overall in his first race. I think it's pretty impressive; he's competing against much older drivers from the European Rallycross Championship. He's competing in the RallyX Nordic Championship this year and is by far the youngest at 15."
What else do you do when you're not competing?
"We never stop; we're testing, doing marketing or promotion, supporting Oliver. We also run an experience centre at my home in Norway, which is really busy. The championship is going well so far, so I'm very pleased. Lets see if we can win this weekend!
And win he did. Solberg came out in front in three of the four qualifying rounds, ahead of winning his semi-final and the final, with teammate Johan Kristoffersson coming in at second place. Solberg has held onto third place in the driver standings and is closing the gap on Mattias Ekstrom in second, while extending their lead in first in the team standings.
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