Petter Solberg

[MichaelC]

Can anyone tell me anything about how good Petter Solberg really is?

I hadn't heard of him before he arrived on the WRC scene at all. My understanding is that he his fast but prone to accidents (sounds like McRae) but like Martin was a good young talent. Am I correct in thinking that he was signed up by Ford as a development driver, only to then be poached by Scooby-Doo?

The assessment of fast-but-accident-prone seems correct, as I can't actually remember ever hearing he'd finished a rally. He always seems to be at the front, then upside down in a ditch... hence the smiley impersonating him below!!

[gomick]

i hadnt really heard of him either before last year, had a few results with ford and is now with subaru, shall be interesting to see if he can get at least 20-25 points this season , i believe he will obviously play no 2 to burns this year, which is fair enough

[OVERSTEER]

All I know about him is he originated in Rallycross, and then he was in the norwegian rally championship before being brought onto the WRC scene.

[Sparky]

I saw Solberg's Subaru on the back of a lowloader on the A47 outside Hinkley on the way to Mallory Park yesterday.

End of useless message!

[MichaelC]

Originally posted by Sparky
I saw Solberg's Subaru on the back of a lowloader on the A47 outside Hinkley on the way to Mallory Park yesterday.

End of useless message!

How many pieces was it in??!!

[PBR]

and was the roof still straight??

[R]

Well, I'll give you some info on Petter Solberg that I found on his homepage (in Norwegian).

In 92 he drove his first car cross race the day after he obtained his driving license.

In 93 he drove his second car cross race, which he won. Then he started driving rallycross in a Ford Escort.

In 94 he drove a Ford Escort in the Norwegian rallycross championship, as well as the Norwegian hill climbing championship, and finished 2nd in both.

In 95 he drove a Volvo 240. He became a Norwegian champion in both rallycross and hill climbing, as well as finishing 2nd in the Nordic hill climbing championship. He won a total of 19 races in 21 starts.

In 96 he also drove a Volvo 240, achieving exactly the same honours as the year before. This time he won a total of 15 races in 19 starts. He also made his rally debut in the "Rally Hedemarken", in a Toyota Celica ST165, and roofed it!

In 97 he drove a Toyota Celica ST185, once again Norwegian champion in hill climbing, and 5th place in the Norwegian rallying championship.

In 98 he drove a Toyota Celica ST205, became Norwegian rallying champion, and finished 14th in the Swedish rally. In the autumn of that year, he signed a contract with Ford.

In 99 he drove for Martini Ford in the WRC, driving an Escort to 10th place in the Swedish rally, and the rest of the season in a Ford Focus, 5th place being his best result that year in the Safari rally.

So that's his career up to that point, and from then on y'all know it...

[Sparky]

How many pieces was it in??!!

...and was the roof still straight?

I'm guessing it was on the way to the test venue....

...There wasn't a bent panel to be seen!!

[Barrie]

Petter Solberg and older brother Henning were both looked after by the legend that is Martin Schanche. They are both very talented drivers with that spectacular style of Schanche and fellow rallycrosser Steinar Joranli. Petter will be an absolute superstar.

[MichaelC]

Barry, I agree with you totally. He's clearly a very talented guy, good at what he does. However Subaru don't like having to provide new cars for every rally - remember they nearly kicked out Colin McRae after warning him to stop crashing or find a new team. I know that it's early on in his career, but he does seem to have penchant for non-finishes. I'm just worried, but I'm sure once he finds his feet he'll be OK.