The World Rally Championship (WRC) is the premier competition in the rallying segment of motorsport, and it is efficiently organized and governed by the FIA (International Automobile Federation). The competition boasts a huge array of competing teams with specially designed racing cars and a rich pool of amazingly talented drivers with diverse backgrounds — drivers like the amazing Petter Solberg. Born in Askim on 18 November 1974, Solberg is a Norwegian professional rally and rallycross driver.
Spurred on at a young age by his motorsport-loving parents, Solberg made a name for himself racing to the peak of the World Rally Championship, among other events. He has featured in about 190 rallies in the World Rally Championship, has over 60 starts in the FIA World RX, and about nine starts in the FIA Euro RX. His WRC teams include Ford, Volkswagen, and Subaru. However, there’s still more to Petter Solberg than widely known, hence, we’ve highlighted these interesting details about the awesome rally driver.
10 Married To A Rally Driver
The Solberg family is extremely inclined to rallying. Petter Solberg’s parents, Tove (mother) and Terje (father) Solberg competed in bilcross, which is an entry-level rallycross-style form of racing in Scandinavia, and they are massive rallycross enthusiasts. The massive interest the parents have in motorsports greatly influenced Petter Solberg’s career.
Furthermore, Petter Solberg is married to a Swede, Pernilla Walfridsson, the daughter of 1980 European Rallycross Champion Per-Inge “Pi” Walfridsson. Interestingly, Pernilla Walfridsson was also at some point a world-renowned female rally driver.
9 Son Is A Rally Driver
Notably, Pernilla and Petter have a son named Oliver. Interestingly, he was successful as a Crosskart driver, and he’s currently rallying as well. Oliver Solberg was born 23 September 2001, and he attended his first WRC event as a spectator, having followed his mother to the 2002 Cyprus Rally to watch his father compete, even before his first birthday.
Oliver Solberg started crosskarting at eight, winning several Norwegian and Nordic Crosskart Championships. He’s an FIA World Rallycross Championship winner, and he made his WRC debut in 2019. Young Oliver also made an appearance in one of Ken Block's Gymkhana installments.
8 Won Norwegian Tamiya Cup
Excelling in any career path takes a lot of hard work and dedication, and it’s always better to start at a very young age. Notably, Solberg had developed great interests in motor racing at a very young age due to the influence of his parents.
Hence, in 1987, still learning the intricacies of the sport, Solberg, a 13-year-old boy at the time, won the Norwegian Tamiya Cup, a nationwide R/C car competition.
7 Started Driving In 1992
For a young boy that grew up in a family where everyone raced, Solberg surely knew the intricacies of driving a car, even at a young age. But he couldn’t, mainly because of the legal implications. Being below the legal age for driving, Solberg made himself useful in other areas, like helping to rebuild competition cars around the farm.
However, three days after he turned 18, which is a day after he received his driver’s license, Solberg entered his first bilcross competition.
6 Rally Debut
Spurred on by his parents, Solberg, having started racing at a young age, steadily rose through the ranks. He quickly adapted to the game, and the year 1995 became quite significant in his career, as the then young Norwegian became his country’s rallycross champion.
Solberg also had his maiden rally race in 1995, competing in the Norwegian Rally Bjorkelangen, in the Volvo Original Class, driving a Volvo 240.
5 First Norwegian To Win The WRC
In 2002, Solberg posted a series of consistent top-level driving performances that was further boosted by an unexpected accident by Marcus Gronholm to claim his first WRC win in the Wales Rally GB. A year later, at the final event, which was also in Wales, Solberg had a showdown with two other title contenders in Sebastien Loeb and Richard Burns.
Solberg excelled, winning his first and only World Rally Championship, thereby becoming the first Norwegian ever to achieve the feat.
4 First-Ever Winner Of The World RX
Officially abbreviated as the World RX, the FIA World Rallycross Championship was launched in 2014 as a rallycross series organized by the FIA along with Rallycross Promoter GmbH. Currently, the series features 12 two-day events driven in closed circuits with 4 qualifying heats, 2 semi-finals, and the final.
The inaugural version in 2014 was quite significant for Solberg as he coasted to victory to become not only the first-ever winner of the event but also the first driver with FIA World titles in different events.
3 Owns A Rally Team
The Subaru World Rally Team had signed Solberg in 2000 in a partnership that produced the Norwegian’s only championship victory in 2003. Solberg had planned to remain with the team for the foreseeable future, and for the next two seasons after the championship victory, he finished in second place with Sebastien Loeb claiming victory.
However, at the end of the 2008 season, Subaru withdrew from the WRC. This would prompt Solberg to seek private backing to start a new team, the Petter Solberg World Rally Team, launched in the 2009 season.
2 His Brother Is A Rally Driver
Petter Solberg is the younger brother of Norwegian rally and rallycross driver Henning Solberg. Born 8 January 1973, Henning Solberg, just like his younger brother, started his racing career in bilcross and rallycross events before moving fully into rallying.
Notably, Henning Solberg ran riot in the Norwegian Rally Championship between 1999 and 2003, claiming five consecutive wins in those years. He was active in the WRC from 1998 to 2019, driving for several teams that include Ford, OMV Peugeot, and Adapta Motorsport.
1 Retired In 2019
In 2019, after about 20 years in the sport, Solberg announced his retirement. However, he also planned to remain partially active in motorsport, featuring in select events, but not competitively. During his retirement announcement, Solberg said "my driving makes people smile, I want to carry on with that. But for the championship, I'm finished. I won't do another one."
Having come from a family that’s heavily invested in motorsport and with a son that’s also an active rally driver, Solberg didn’t retire, he passed the torch.