2022 WRC News & Rumours

[TWRC]

No, just WRC2.

I agree. Also, having someone (who is not his family!) that he can learn from would benefit him as well.

[Rallyper]

Why would he go back to WRC2 unless he hasn´t any other options.
He´s already used to RC1 cars. WRC2 wont do him any good except for getting more stageknowledge...

[Essaj]

Why would he go back to WRC2 unless he hasn´t any other options.
He´s already used to RC1 cars. WRC2 wont do him any good except for getting more stageknowledge...

He needs to learn to win and WRC2 is way to do that. Oliver had just 1 RC2 win in WRC where as Kalle won the championship before going to main class. Kalle finished 3rd on his 2nd ever start - Oli is yet to win a stage.
Stepping down makes a lot sense.

[Eli]

He needs to learn to win and WRC2 is way to do that. Oliver had just 1 RC2 win in WRC where as Kalle won the championship before going to main class. Kalle finished 3rd on his 2nd ever start - Oli is yet to win a stage.
Stepping down makes a lot sense.

Rovanperä won the WRC 2 (& Pro in 2019) category before stepping up to WRC, Oliver has yet to accomplish anything remotely close to that, okay he's finished second in the ERC back in 2020, but that's still not enough to build on. He's still young, & has plenty of time to get back to the main category.

[Rallyper]

I´m not buying that "he has to win in WRC2 before stepping up". It seems to come from you guys never drove a rallycar. Don´t exemplify from some guys. We can find lot of guys never winning a championship in WRC2 now driving RC1 cars.
He is used to cars since a kid and done a lot of winning with four wheels. WRC2 is not THE solution. If he can, he should continue in WRC.

Other thing is if he doesn´t get a seat he has to keep driving. Only the WRC2 would be an option.

[denkimi]

I never understood why anyone would have wanted to have Solberg drive for them, except for the hope he turns out to be another rovanpera due to his name.
Let him drive wrc2 and prove he is actually a top driver that could do well in wrc first.
Hiring drivers for their name is not often a succes.

[Rallyper]

I never understood why anyone would have wanted to have Solberg drive for them, except for the hope he turns out to be another rovanpera due to his name.
Let him drive wrc2 and prove he is actually a top driver that could do well in wrc first.
Hiring drivers for their name is not often a succes.

By name...?

[steve.mandzij]

By name...?

don't be daft, a single ERC win and "fast" stage times on his debut three years ago is nowhere near enough qualifications to get a factory seat. if he weren't a Solberg he'd be battling Bulacia in WRC2

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[mknight]

I´m not buying that "he has to win in WRC2 before stepping up". It seems to come from you guys never drove a rallycar. Don´t exemplify from some guys. We can find lot of guys never winning a championship in WRC2 now driving RC1 cars.
He is used to cars since a kid and done a lot of winning with four wheels. WRC2 is not THE solution. If he can, he should continue in WRC.

Other thing is if he doesn´t get a seat he has to keep driving. Only the WRC2 would be an option.

He has to learn to perform over the whole rally when it is expected of him. For this part it doesn't matter at all whether it's Rally2 or Rally1. But in Rally1 pressure and competition is tougher and crashes more expensive.

Oliver has won a single rally in WRC2 (Estonia 2020), but even then he wasn't scoring WRC2 points so Østberg had little motivation to fight with him.

I was actually really surprised they dropped him completely, was expecting 4th car or Rally2 program. Nevertheless this is exactly what I warned about when Adamo? started pushing him up in 2021. That if he doesn't rapidly improve and some new? leadership is not mad about him he might end badly at end of his 2 year deal. I wrote tons of posts about this. Yet, "I told you so" doesn't help anyone.

Hope he gets a stable program where he can develop at his own pace instead of getting pushed around. Rally2 Skoda or (more risky) Puma.

[seb_sh]

Stepping down worked for both Tanak and Evans, they came back stronger. Solberg was pushed up too soon and failed to deliver so it's time to go down a step and show he is a good rally driver.