Oliver Solberg will become a Skoda works driver in the 2024 World Rally Championship and is set to continue the Czech manufacturer’s title streak in the WRC2 class
The WRC2 class of the World Rally Championship will remain Oliver Solberg’s sporting home in 2024. The son of 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg has signed a new contract with Skoda and will compete for the WRC2 title as a works driver
“It is a great honor for me to be working with one of the oldest car manufacturers in the world. Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] and I are very proud of this and will do everything we can to ensure that the incredibly successful Skoda rally story continues,” says Solberg.
The now 22-year-old was already a Skoda works driver in WRC2 in the 2020 WRC season. However, he only contested three WRC rounds for the Czech manufacturer in the season, which was severely curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He then switched to Hyundai and became a works driver in the premier class of the World Rally Championship. He lost his seat at Hyundai at the end of 2022. This year, Solberg drove for the German Skoda team Toksport WRT in WRC2 and finished sixth with two wins this season.
“Not much will change in the events compared to last season. But with the plan to do more development work, I will spend a bit more time in the car and that will help me to prepare better and better for the rallies,” says Solberg.
Skoda recently won the WRC2 title three times in a row with Andreas Mikkelsen in 2021 and 2022 and Emil Lindholm in 2022.
“We are very pleased to continue our cooperation with Oliver and Elliott,” says Skoda Motorsport Director Michal Hrabanek. “We have seen great speed from them this season and I am sure that this will also be the case in 2024.”
“Winning WRC2 this year was further proof of the Fabia RS Rally2’s consistent performance – having Oliver with us next season puts us in a very strong position to continue this success story,” continued Hrabanek.