SOLBERG: I WANT TO ENJOY RALLY SPAIN
Petter Solberg has warned his fans not to expect too much when he returns to the World Rally Championship for the first time in six years at next month’s Rally of Spain.
The former World Rally champion was confirmed for a one-off drive in a factory-run Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 in Spain last week. Solberg, who drove the Polo for the first time in Sweden at the start of the season, will return for a two-day test in Spain ahead of the rally.
“I am so happy to be back in this atmosphere and in the World Rally Championship,” Solberg told MN. “But we have to remember that the rally car I have been driving recently [his own Ford Escort RS1800] isn’t so much like the Polo.”
Solberg left the full-time WRC when he departed Ford’s factory team in 2012. Since then his only modern outing was at the 2014 Condroz Rally, where he competed in a Citroen C4 WRC, but retired with a broken gearbox.
“It will be a big fight in WRC2,” said Solberg. “There’s a championship going on and these guys are in the cars all the time. I’m going to have fun and to show what this car can do; let me go and do the rally that I can do and then let’s see what is happening. It’s really nice to be asked to do this by Volkswagen and I’m really looking forward to being back there.”
Solberg has been so impressed with the Polo GTI R5 that he has ordered one for himself – but he was quick to dismiss talk that he could be back in rallying long-term.
“I think my car should come next year,” he said. “Honestly, it is so much fun, it’s fantastic. When I tested in Sweden I just wanted to keep driving and this is the way to do that.”
He will, however, have to fight his son Oliver for the keys.
“I am driving in rallycross now,” he said. “The rally would be just for fun – but for Oliver it’s more for the future. He will be testing with the Polo a lot next year.”
Volkswagen team principal Sven Smeets admitted it was a ‘dream’ to land Solberg as a driver for the Salou-based October event. “Petter is a true rally hero,” said Smeets. “We have already experienced his passion and professionalism working alongside him in World Rallycross. He tested the Polo GTI R5 and, from the beginning, it was our dream to have him in the car to give this new customer rally car its debut. Everybody in Volkswagen Motorsport is excited to be working on a rally and on this special event with Petter and our second driver Eric Camilli.” Smeets has outlined more detail of the Polo GTI R5 programme to MN, including confirmation that the German firm will continue to build the cars for the next four years. There had been speculation that once the planned 50 cars were built, that would be the end of Volkswagen Motorsport’s commitment. “That’s absolutely not the case,” said Smeets. “There is no limit of 50 cars. We hope to have 50 [built and sold] by the end of next year and 15 of those will be delivered by Christmas this year. In 2019, we build 35 and in 2020 we will, for sure, not build less than that. Beyond that, building more cars could depend on what other projects we have going on in-house. But we fully intend to build and sell through the four-year homologation cycle.” Once the car breaks cover with Solberg and Camilli in Spain, Smeets admitted the car might not be seen much more in 2018. “That’s simply because there are not many rallies left in the end of the year,” he added, “but from next year we will see them competing and some of them with the backing of local importers. We know from our customers that there is going to be a few of them going to the European Rally Championship.”
The Polo will have carried out close to 6,500 miles of testing ahead of its homologation date on October 1. And Smeets added that all of the knowhow from the team’s ultra successful Polo R WRC had gone into the R5.
“With the regulations for the R5 and the parts so cost-controlled, it’s hard to make a big difference [from the other R5 cars] in terms of performance,” he said. “But what we have been able to do is use our knowledge and experience from the Polo R WRC. We have been testing in all of the same places we tested the World Rally Car before it came out, this gives us the chance to use the data we have from before. We have tried to find the right balance between competitiveness, reliability and performance and we are very proud of the car we will bring to Spain.”
“Petter is a true rally hero” SVEN SMEETS