53 Facts About Petter Solberg

Petter Solberg was born on 18 November 1974 and is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver.

In 2012 Petter Solberg returned to a factory team, joining the Ford World Rally Team 12 years after making his WRC debut with the same team.

Petter Solberg switched to rallycross for the 2013 season, and in the 2014 he became the inaugural winner of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, after five race wins and nine podium finishes.

In 2017, Petter Solberg set up the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team in partnership with Volkswagen Motorsport, and won the Team's Championship in both 2017 and 2018 before his retirement from full-time motorsport.

Petter Solberg won a nationwide RC car championship the Norwegian Tamiya Cup in 1987 at the age of 13 as he inherited his interest of motorsport through his parents, mother Tove and father Terje, who were keen bilcross competitors and rallycross enthusiasts.

Petter Solberg used to help out around the home farm rebuilding competition cars, as he was not yet old enough to drive.

Petter Solberg entered his first bilcross in 1992, three days after his 18th birthday and only one day after he got his driving license.

Petter Solberg went on to become Norwegian champion in rallycross as well as hillclimb in both 1995 and 1996.

In 1998 Petter Solberg became the Norwegian Rally Champion, his brother Henning won this title five times in a row between 1999 and 2003.

Petter Solberg stunned many by finishing in 5th place and scoring both drivers and manufacturers points.

In 2000 however, Petter Solberg was able to leave Ford's M-Sport outfit prematurely, due to an insufficient contract, to sign with the Subaru World Rally Team, then led by a driving staff of Richard Burns and Juha Kankkunen.

In 2002 with four-time champion Tommi Makinen installed as his new teammate in the light of Burns' departure to Peugeot, Petter Solberg won his first ever WRC event in Wales after a consistent display of driving prowess and an unlikely accident by Marcus Gronholm.

In 2003 Petter Solberg entered the final event, the Wales Rally GB, with himself, Citroen-mounted Sebastien Loeb and Burns in contention for the title.

Burns withdrew before the event for health reasons and Petter Solberg finished ahead of Loeb, launching him to his second win in Wales and his first and only World Rally Championship title.

Petter Solberg became the first Norwegian to win the drivers' world title.

Petter Solberg was overtaken by a rampant Loeb, and was left to score 71 points for the year, pipping Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm to the championship runner-up spot on a tie break.

Petter Solberg added an unwanted Wales Rally GB win after the death in a day three crash of fellow competitor Markko Martin's co-driver, Michael Park, with Loeb sacrificing his victory on the road in order to avoid having to simultaneously celebrate the title.

Petter Solberg won three rallies in all, though was severely affected by bad luck while challenging for wins at the end of the season, most notably on the Telstra Rally Australia, where he was forced to retire after striking a wayward kangaroo.

For 2006, Petter Solberg continued his partnership with the Subaru team, driving a new version of the Impreza WRC.

Petter Solberg was however pleased with changes in car setup made for day 3, which seemed promising for the following Tour de Corse.

In Japan, his team's home event, Petter Solberg clocked several top-ten times on the early stages, but crashed badly on SS5 then, probably due to damage sustained in accident, his gearbox locked in sixth gear, forcing his retirement for the day.

Petter Solberg later rejoined the competition under the SupeRally format and finished 16th, managing to score two points in the Manufacturers' Championship.

Petter Solberg took part in the 2007 Race of Champions, representing Norway, along with his brother, Henning.

Petter Solberg didn't manage to win the first race with David Coulthard, but in Nation's Cup Norwegian brothers made their way to the semi-finals.

Petter Solberg started his season with a fifth place in Monte Carlo and fourth in Sweden, but went on to retire or finish outside point-scoring positions in the following four events.

Petter Solberg finished sixth overall in the drivers' championship, four points behind teammate Chris Atkinson, while Subaru took third place in the manufacturers' standings.

On 1 February 2009, Petter Solberg indicated that five sponsors for the 2009 season were in place.

Petter Solberg "threatened" to swap to a Peugeot 307 WRC, unless he got the 2006 spec upgrades for his Xsara.

Petter Solberg received the upgrades for Sardinia, which made them able to defend a 3rd place, in very hot conditions.

Petter Solberg expressed that they were unable to push harder in hot temperatures, and remained open to analyze what to do for the next events.

Petter Solberg was believed to be in talks of upgrading to a Peugeot 307 CC but decided to stick with the Xsara.

Solberg continued to drive for his own Petter Solberg World Rally Team for Catalunya, but was a nominated points scorer for the Citroen Junior Team at Wales Rally GB, alongside Sebastien Ogier.

Petter Solberg finished in 4th position in both of these events, and ended up 5th in the overall 2009 Drivers' Championship standings.

Petter Solberg announced on 12 January 2010 that he had purchased two Citroen C4 WRC cars from Citroen and that he would compete in the 2010 World Rally Championship.

At the second round of the season, the Corona Mexico Rally, Petter Solberg held the lead after day 1, with a 27sec gap down to Loeb on 3rd.

Petter Solberg sat a fastest stage time here by 1.4 sec which secured the 2nd place podium finish, marking the best result by PSWRT to date.

The other drivers kept their position with Petter Solberg scoring a 3rd place podium.

In Rally New Zealand Petter Solberg made a tactical blunder, simply by not adapting any road position tactics, and finished in first position on day 1, with a marginal lead.

Ogier and Loeb both had a spin that cost them some seconds, and Petter Solberg going too fast around a high speed bend hit a telegraph pole on the road shoulder and retired from 3rd position.

On 14 January 2011, PSWRT confirmed that Petter Solberg will compete in the 2011 World Rally Championship in a Citroen DS3 WRC.

On 4 December 2012 Petter Solberg confirmed he would sit out of the WRC 2013 season.

In 2013 Petter Solberg changed discipline, competing in all nine rounds of the FIA European Rallycross Championship with his own team, based in Torsby.

Petter Solberg partnered with Liam Doran to compete for the Petter Solberg Doran Rallycross team in the 2015 season.

Petter Solberg successfully defended his WRX title with this Citroen DS3, clinching the title in the final round of the championship at Rosario in Argentina.

In 2016, Petter Solberg continued in the FIA World Rallycross Championship with a privateer Supercars class Citroen DS3.

Petter Solberg won the first round at Portugal, and got three further podiums and a total of eight top 5 finishes, finishing 4th in the overall standings.

Petter Solberg achieved his final World RX win at the legendary Lydden Hill in 2017, and by the end of the year the team were crowned Team's Champions, Petter Solberg finished 3rd, and teammate Johan Kristoffersson won his first World Championship title.

Petter Solberg made a brief rally comeback and took part in the 2018 Rally Catalunya to give the Volkswagen Polo R5 its WRC debut, and finished in a podium position with 3rd place in the WRC2 category.

Petter Solberg retired from full-time motorsport at the end of 2018, but did complete a 'Farewell Tour' in 2019 consisting of some of his favourite events.

Since then Petter has been a constant and supportive presence in his son's life as Oliver Solberg followed in his father's footsteps and reached the World Rally Championship.

Petter Solberg won the AWD class of the 2016 Gymkhana Grid at Marathon with a Citroen Xsara.

Petter Solberg was born in Askim, but grew up in Spydeberg.

Petter Solberg is married to a Swede, Pernilla Walfridsson, with whom he has a son, Oliver Solberg, who is a driver in the WRC himself.