Petter Solberg's History in WRC and WRX
- therookiereporters
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Petter Solberg is a Norwegian motorsport legend and former World Champion. He is also no stranger to breaking records and making history, becoming the first driver to become world champion in both WRC and WRX.
Petter Solberg, also known as “ Mr Hollywood” is one of Norway's most iconic figures in motorsports. He rose to fame on a global scale in the World Rally Championship, winning the 2003 WRC title with Subaru and becoming Norway’s first World Champion. His aggressive driving style, extreme determination, and candid personality quickly made him a fan favorite.
Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998, signing with Ford Factory in 1999. A year later, Solberg started a successful partnership with the Subaru World Rally Team. Solberg finished runner up in the championship to Marcus Gronholm in 2002 then made history the following year, becoming the first Norwegian to win the WRC title. Sebastien Loeb beat him to the championship in the following 2 seasons. After Subaru dropped out of WRC in 2008, Solberg got private backing to start up his own team “Petter Solberg World Rally Team“ and competed with the Citroen Xsara WRC, Citroen C4 and Citroen DS3 WRC. Soon after, in 2012 he made a return with Ford World Rally Team, 12 years after making his WRC debut with this very team!
Solberg crossed over from WRC to WRX for the 2013 season, and in 2014, he became the maiden winner of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, after 5 race wins and 9 podium finishes, then topped this feat by taking victory the following year.
In 2017, Solberg set up the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team in partnership with Volkswagen Motorsport, bringing Johan Kristofferson onboard as his teammate. The duo took home WRX victories in both 2017 and 2018, before Solberg retired from full-time motorsport in 2019.
Article written by Laura Moron ©
