Winner of the last rally outright, Oliver Solberg is back in the support class for this week's Rally Finland
Photography by Toyota
Words by Luke Barry
It’s a strange scenario.
Less than a week ago, he was on top of the world – winner of a World Rally Championship event for the very first time.
Next week, he’s back in the support class.
Driving any rally car in Finland is nothing short of a privilege, but you’d forgive Oliver Solberg for craving that extra aero and extra horsepower when he threads his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 through Ouninpohja.
It’s back to reality in Jyväskylä.
“In that sense for sure, WRC2 was always the goal – and to win that championship and fight for Toyota was always the goal,” Solberg told DirtFish.
“Having this added race was a dream and to get experience, and all of a sudden we go and win the whole thing… I was just thinking I’ll load the trophy into the camper and off we go: ‘I’ll see you later guys’. It’s like I wrote on Instagram, it’s kind of ironic and funny but we came, we won, we left. It’s how it feels.
Solberg will need to readjust to a car with less ultimate potential again this week
“We’ll just go back to reality in a way and go back to doing what we were supposed to do, I don’t know. It’s very strange, very strange but that’s what I’m there focused to do.”
And it’s another crucial weekend for Solberg’s championship. Before we were talking about the 23-year-old as an outright rally winner, we were commenting on his healthy WRC2 chances with three victories from four starts.
In Finland, one of his main rivals Yohan Rossel is scoring – giving Solberg another big opportunity to score important points. Add Rossel to the hoard of fast Finns – including Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala who Solberg battled last year – and it’s going to be another exciting contest.
“I think it’s going to be cool – the pressure is on him [Latvala]!” Solberg laughed.
“I think it’s going to be a good fight like last year. [I’ve] just got to try and get back into the rhythm of the Rally2 now, get the feeling as quick as possible and then we’ll see.”
But what about another Rally1 chance?
“I have absolutely no clue, unfortunately,” Solberg replied. “We try to finish off the job this year and do my thing, and for the rest I have no clue.”
To hear more from Oliver, listen to the very first episode of DirtFish’s new podcast Stage Mode which drops on Wednesday (July 30).
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Oliver Solberg, Rally Finland, Rally Finland 2025, WRC, WRC 2025, WRC2, WRC2 2025
Publish Date July 26, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/07/uF4J14Y0-Solberg08EST25tb023-780x520.jpg July 26, 2025
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