Oliver Solberg's new team-mates are predicting big things from him next season
Photography by Toyota
Words by Luke Barry & David Evans
World Rally Championship contenders Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier have backed Oliver Solberg to be fighting at the sharp end in 2026.
Solberg was confirmed as a Toyota Rally1 driver for next season on Monday, competing alongside Evans, Ogier, Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari in a GR Yaris Rally1.
Although he’s driven in WRC2 for the past three seasons, Solberg did complete a partial campaign with Hyundai in 2022 and won on debut for Toyota in a one-off chance at July’s Rally Estonia.
His team-mates are predicting he’ll be a force to be reckoned with next year.
Evans told DirtFish: “It’s an amazing opportunity for Oliver and it’s very well deserved, I feel. He’s had some difficult moments as well, but he’s done an exceptional job in WRC2.
“Obviously the debut he had in the Rally1 car needs no comment really. It was beyond anything most of us could dream of. I think it’s very well deserved and I’m sure he’s going to do a great job.”
Asked if he could be a championship challenger next year, Evans replied: “Let’s wait and see, why not? I think it depends entirely on how well he clicks with the car on all types of different surfaces. Yeah, why not?”
Solberg is known to have a good relationship with Ogier, who joked: “Let’s see for how long he still has enough respect for me!”
Speaking seriously, Ogier labelled Solberg “the one most deserving to now get an opportunity racing full-time” and also backed his potential to immediately hit the ground running.
“He has proved a lot already,” Ogier told DirtFish, “and his performance in Estonia was really sensational this year, so I would not be surprised to see him already very soon competing at the top.
Solberg's already won a rally in a Rally1 car - but can he do it regularly?
“It will be exciting to follow and I think I won’t have any different approach with him than what I had with my other team-mates recently. We work together, there is this great atmosphere in the team and I think the target is definitely to keep that. And then, same story as ever, as soon as we put the helmet on, there is no friend anymore and we want to beat each other.”
Solberg told DirtFish there’s “many rallies I believe I can do very well” but admitted he needed to learn more on Tarmac.
“OK, we’ve had two good rallies now [CER and Japan in Rally2] and I know I can be fast, but still there’s a lot to learn, you know, with gravel crew, with Monte Carlo especially. Séb is a specialist, so I still feel there’s a lot to learn from my side. How he does it, how are they so good, and why they are so successful on many rallies. Still there’s a lot to learn on that side.
“[But] I’m so happy and relieved because it’s something I’ve been working for for so, so long and I just want to start now, to be honest.”
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Elfyn Evans, Oliver Solberg, Sébastien Ogier, Toyota, WRC, WRC 2026
Publish Date November 11, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/11/Ac7Kyhsh-SOLBERG08EST25tb256-780x520.jpg November 11, 2025
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