Updated 14.36 | Published 14.15
Oliver Solberg writes history. He is the first Swede in 55 years to win the Monte Carlo World Rally and the youngest driver ever to win the classic rally.
– Now he is mature enough to fight for the WC title, says Toyota team manager Jari-Matti Latvala.
The 24-year-old has this year joined the champion team Toyota in the WRC and he arrived at the premiere in Monte Carlo with the hope of making a good and even result on the tough roads in and outside of Monaco. Asphalt is not his favorite surface and this year the weather conditions in the mountains have been extremely difficult. The four competition days have offered snow, ice, freezing rain, mud and fog.
But nothing has been able to stop the warm weather.
He took the lead of the competition already on the second special stage and, despite a couple of mistakes, has been in control of the proceedings. Heading into the final special stage he had taken six stage wins and was 58.3 seconds ahead of colleague Elfyn Evans, while reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier, who has also won Monte Carlo ten times, was a distant third.
On the 17th and final special stage, the Swede kept his composure. Although he lost the stage win, he secured his first victory in the classic rally.
– I don’t think I don’t understand this yet, says an overjoyed Solberg in the interviews while hugging his father Petter, the world champion who never won in Monte Carlo.
– It’s another day full of emotions and it’s the most difficult rally I’ve ever driven and on asphalt and we win everything, Oliver Solberg continues.
– It is so emotional, because there has been so much stress all weekend. I am so happy that Toyota has believed in me and that I have been able to deliver.
Oliver Solberg with a sensational victory in Monte Carlo
Solberg eventually won by more than 50 seconds and is now the youngest winner ever at Monte Carlo in the WRC era. He won ahead of his two Toyota colleagues Evans and Ogier.
– I didn’t think he would be there to fight for the victory in Monte Carlo. I thought maybe he could fight for a place in the top five, and then attack in Sweden and win there, but he really attacked from the first kilometer, says Toyota team manager Jari-Matti Latvala to rally-TV.
– He has matured very quickly, had a very good year in WRC2 last year and I think he has matured enough to fight for the WC title.
Even the nine-time world champion Sebastien Ogier was impressed by Solberg.
– He has done a fantastic job all weekend and it is good to have some youth at the top, I am looking forward to taking up the fight with him.
The WC rally in Monte Carlo is one of the most classic of the season. The competition has been run since 1911 and over the years three Swedish drivers have won. Erik “Carlsson on the roof” Carlsson in a Saab 96 in 1962 and 1963, Björn Waldegård in 1969 and 1970 in a Porsche 911 and Ove “Påven Andersson” in a Renault Alpine A110 in 1971.
This year is the first time Oliver Solberg is driving a full season in the World Rally Championship and he leads the World Championship before the next competition, Rally Sweden, which will be decided in Umeå in February.
