Constantly seeking out a world champion for advice runs in the family – and clearly helped in achieving his WRC2 dominance on the Acropolis
Photography by Toyota
Words by David Evans, DirtFish Head of Media
The perfect rally is a rare thing. Rarer still in Greece. The Acropolis is a rally run around rocks and curveballs. Getting everything right in Lamia last week was arguably the season’s longest shot.
It’s one Oliver Solberg took. And landed.
Ott Tänak’s win was lauded as the drive of the rally (our own Colin Clark proffered the Estonian a rare 10/10 in his ratings). Solberg’s was just as good and, dare I say it, potentially even a little bit better.
The 23-year-old Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 driver sought and secured something almost impossible to spot in Greece: the flow state. The Acropolis has so many facets to it, be it the heat, the terrain, the tire wear, the rhythm change both from high-to-low speed and from rough to insanely rough. It’s an event which throws everything at a driver to knock them out of their stride.
From the start, Solberg was a man in control. He’d done his homework, his training and his testing ahead of the event and, while most others around him else spent Thursday morning staring skywards and worrying about how hot it was getting.
“I sat in the sauna,” he said. “A little bit of sweat never killed anybody.”
This wasn’t Solberg being over-confident or conceited, it was just his way of saying he lives to drive rally cars, anytime, anyplace, anywhere. And the temperature being turned up a notch or two wasn’t going to stand in the way of him having a ball doing what he does best.
And, if we’re honest, it’s hard to imagine a time when he’s done it better. Sure, you could reach for fifth overall in Finland last year (or sixth the year before), but that’s different. His outright speed, bravery, car control and precision has never been in doubt. What last week showed was a different level of control over every aspect of everything that was going on around him.
Not once did he look stressed or stretched. He drove his rally, won his stages and comprehensively dominated a high-calibre field of WRC2 opposition. His management of every aspect of the event was second-to-none. Talking to the Printsport team, that’s the way they saw it as well.
Moreover, he impressed the man who designed the car he used to dominate.
As you can imagine for a man whose cars have ruled the recent years of the World Rally Championship, Toyota technical director Tom Fowler is a hard man to please. Solberg’s third WRC2 win of the season and his third Rally2 win on the bounce in the world championship ticked the box.
“Oliver,” Fowler told DirtFish, “showed very strong pace and performance in Acropolis – but I already knew he had pace. What was impressive was his rally management. This was the toughest Acropolis for a long time and Oliver managed the total situation very professionally.”
Solberg now has three wins a row – but his Acropolis success was possibly the most convincing win of the lot
Success in Greece comes by finding the key to driving quickly, slowly. And by keeping the car in a straight line and without stressing the tires.
There’s another Toyota driver who knows a thing or two about tire management.
It’s no surprise that, arriving at the start of a stage, Oliver was looking for one Yaris to park alongside. The one with Sébastien Ogier’s name on the side.
“I’ve spoken with him a lot,” said Solberg. “During the day, I always park with him and all the time I’m asking him questions. He’s fantastic to help and always talkative and really nice – it definitely helps.
“I ask him everything, but the main thing is about the tires – he’s the king of tire management.”
Ogier being among the last Rally1 runners and Solberg often being first of the WRC2 field has meant the pair ending up together on road sections frequently this season
That takes me back to when Oliver’s father Petter was finding his feet at the very pinnacle of the World Rally Championship. For Petter, it was Colin McRae.
“He never stops asking questions,” McRae once told me. “Never stops. I took him in the car with me and he was asking everything, all the time. I told him he could come out for dinner after the test… but only if he didn’t ask questions about the test.
“He ordered his food, was quiet for, like 10 seconds, then started asking questions about the test!”
Like father, like son.
Avid students and fast learners the Solbergs.
Tags: Acropolis Rally Greece, Acropolis Rally Greece 2025, Oliver Solberg, Printsport, Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
Publish Date July 1, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/07/4veodRzW-DSF2347-780x520.jpg July 1, 2025
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