SOLBERGSSETFORSPAINBATTLE
Solberg brothers Petter and Henning will go head-to-head at next week’s Rally of Spain as the pair renew their sibling rivalry in the WRC2 class.
Petter Solberg – the 2003 WRC champion – will drive one of two Volkswagen Polo GTI R5s in Salou – with Eric Camilli in the sister car – while Henning is expected to make a second world championship appearance of the season in a Toksport Skoda Fabia R5.
Petter told MN: “When I entered with Volkswagen to do Spain, it happened very quickly that my brother Henning entered the race. He really wants to drive against me again and I think it’s really nice that both brothers will be together again.”
Asked what he expected the result to be, Petter replied: “What can I say? He’s never beaten me – so he will not beat me again. Sorry Henning!”
Henning rocketed back into the WRC with sixth overall at Rally Turkey last month, in an R5 car. He is focused on finalising a deal for Spain. “I want to do it,” he told
MN. “It’s clear what speed we have and [in Turkey] I was not driving flat-out. Let’s see.”
Ahead of his first WRC round in six years, Petter completed his pre-event test in Spain last week.
“We did four days,” he said. “[Eric] Camilli did two days then I did two. I was Eric’s co-driver for some runs and I can’t say I’m a good co-driver, but I can say that he’s a very good, talented driver!
“I don’t know how many kilometres I did on Tarmac, but it was a full day. Then we did 210km [130 miles] on gravel on the other day. It’s an R5 car, but it feels like a World Rally Car. The suspension is fantastic, you can fine-tune it as you want: if you like a little bit of understeer or oversteer, you have all the tools to do it.”
Asked what he thought might be possible in terms of a result in Spain, Solberg said: “You have to remember I haven’t done a rally in six years so there isn’t so much pressure on my shoulders. I really want to do well. Let’s start and see how we go. It would be nice to make a surprise, but there are so many good drivers and hard competition in the [WRC2] class.”
‘Your guide to the rest of the WRC title fight’ Championship permutations, p18