Hyundai youngster Oliver Solberg explains what keeps him and the team positive after the largely disappointing 2022 WRC opener
For Hyundai, Rally Monte Carlo, the season opener for the 2022 World Rally Championship (WRC), did not go according to plan. At the debut of the brand new Hyundai i20 N Rally1, Thierry Neuville in P6 was the best-placed driver for the factory team based in Alzenau, Germany.
Neuville’s teammates Ott Tänak and Oliver Solberg failed to finish at the start of the Rally1 era. Tänak retired with damage to the car. This was due to several off-road incidents. Solberg abandoned the rally shortly before the end after repeated smoke in the cockpit of his i20 N Rally1.
The son of former World Rally Champion Petter Solberg even had to visit the hospital together with co-driver Elliott Edmondson. Nevertheless, he can also look back on the positive aspects of his first outing as a Hyundai works driver.
“Unfortunately we only did SS14. It was a great stage, but we were not in the condition to continue,” Solberg explained of his abandonment, which took place with three special stages still to go.
“The conditions were difficult. My co-driver and I did not feel comfortable. Therefore, we did not want to take any risks. The team then decided to take us out of the rally. We returned to Monte Carlo to rest. A few checks were carried out at the hospital and everything was fine,” Solberg reports.
As positive aspects, the 20-year-old points out: “We learned a lot that we can build on.” As examples, the youngster in the Hyundai works team cites “some good split times and some good stage times” and sums up: “It was an important weekend for both the team and myself, which despite everything went positively in more ways than one. “
