Sweden’s Oliver Solberg claimed a stunning maiden World Rally Championship (WRC) victory at Rally Estonia on Sunday, nearly 20 years after his father Petter Solberg won the last of his 13 WRC races.
The win marked Toyota’s 100th in the WRC. Solberg extended his lead to seal a 25.2 second win over home favourite and 2019 world champion Ott Tanak and the Estonian’s Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville finished third.
However, Tanak snatched the championship lead from Toyota’s Elfyn Evans by a single point, with the Briton managing a sixth-place finish in Estonia.
On his debut in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, the 23-year-old Solberg and British co-driver Elliott Edmondson were drafted in for a one-off drive a few weeks prior to the rally and had only two days of testing.
“After everything, so many years trying and trying and trying and dreaming, and me and Elliott finally made it,” Solberg said.
“I just want to say thank you to Toyota, to the test team who helped me get so comfortable, for all the help this weekend from this beautiful, beautiful team. I’ve never had such a good time in my life.”
Solberg got off to a flying start, winning Friday’s opening stage and taking a lead he did not relinquish all weekend. He carried a 21.1-second overnight lead into Sunday’s final three stages, where he emerged untroubled by the tricky grip in slick, damp conditions.
Solberg’s father Petter, who represented Norway, won 13 WRC races from 2002 to 2005.
Hyundai’s Tanak battled inconsistent grip and Neuville, who started the day four seconds behind, was handed a 10-second penalty for a false start on special stage 18 and finished 23.1 seconds back in third.
“I think we got the best out of this weekend, with or without my mistake on Saturday morning, Oliver was still difficult to beat,” Tanak said.
Tanak had ended Saturday in second place, 21 seconds behind Solberg, his gap could have been smaller if not for a costly stall after clipping a chicane bale on the opening stage, which caused him to lose around seven seconds.
“I expected a challenging weekend, and I knew it would be tough to get the most out of these Estonian roads. They’re super fast and have some big jumps, so you need a good balance and a perfect rhythm,” he added.
“We learned a lot here to take to Finland. I’m happy to be going there in the championship lead, and we will see what it’s like opening the road.”
Rally Finland, which runs from July 31 to August 3, is round nine of the WRC season.
Toyota, who have won every rally so far this year except for Greece, also tightened their grip on the manufacturers’ race with 399 points to Hyundai’s 347.
