Solberg Jr and Bennett sign up for RX on Ice
Rising Norwegian star Oliver Solberg, son of triple FIA world champion Petter, and multiple British Rallycross podium finisher Oliver Bennett will compete in the single-make RX Academy on Ice series, which starts this weekend at Ostersund in Sweden.
The pair will race in the Rallyx on Ice series support category, Solberg taking time out of his 2018 rally programme while Bennett will use the series to prepare for his rallycross season. They will be joined by former Global Rallycross champion Joni Wiman, reigning RX Academy champion Jesse Kallio and RX2 podium finisher Simon Wago Syversen, among others, for the first of four rounds in Sweden and Norway run over five weeks.
“I’m doing this for some seat time in February while our cars are out of action in the rebuild stages,” Bennett told Motorsport News.
The British driver raced a Ford Fiesta Supercar to third in British RX last season and is targeting selected World RX rounds this year with a new Mini Cooper Supercar. “Ice driving seems the best way to get that alongside the change to front-wheeldrive, to learn another driving style,” said Bennett. “Hopefully it will be a blast and hopefully I’ll spend most of my time sideways. To be around some really good drivers will help.”