How Solberg pulled off one of the WRC’s most remarkable drives

It was already a dream come true just to get in the seat of a World Rally Championship Rally1 car again, but never in Oliver Solberg’s wildest dreams did he envisage the dominant fairytale victory that unfolded in Estonia.

Solberg’s script before strapping himself into the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 was “I’m not here to win, I will have fun and respect the opportunity” handed by Toyota. The ‘having fun and respect’ part was certainly achieved.

But the rest of the script was well and truly ripped up and re-written as Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson stunned the WRC by pulling off one of the most remarkable drives in recent memory. It’s a victory that will be talked about for years to come and easily the WRC’s feel-good story of 2025.

The narrative behind this triumph wouldn’t look out of place in a Hollywood movie. Solberg was making a one-off Rally1 return, two-and-a-half years after a difficult first foray with Hyundai in 2022, that included a first-corner crash in the Finnish forest, which reduced him to tears.

The programme was cut short after scoring points in the next two rounds, and a return to Rally2 followed to rebuild and hone his craft, as he narrowly missed out on the WRC2 title last year. While leading the standings this season, Solberg got the call he had been waiting for as Toyota handed him a golden opportunity to rejoin the WRC’s elite.

Last weekend was about redemption and perseverance. After two test days, stipulated by Solberg, in order to adjust to the Toyota GR Yaris Rally, and some advice from eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier, Solberg and Edmondson issued an emphatic statement win. It produced tears of a different kind as Solberg reached the finish, having achieved a dream and the enormity of that triggering an outpouring of emotions.

“After everything, after so many years and trying and trying and dreaming, me and Elliott have finally made it,” said Solberg in floods of tears at the finish. “I can’t put it into words. I don’t think I have fully understood what I have done, I have cried and all the emotions have overflowed. I don’t know what to say, but [it is] the biggest day of my life.

“Jumping in a car like this and winning straight away, I cannot say I expected this. I have not had many Rally1 rallies under my belt either, it is a miracle. We all know that in this game never giving up is the key, and always believing in myself, although it has been difficult at times.”

To win a WRC event straight out of the box is difficult and incredibly rare for anyone. That territory belongs to the likes of Sebastien Loeb and Ogier. To be victorious requires the right preparation, speed, mental fortitude, team work and the right package. This was all present in Estonia, where Solberg cut his rallying teeth as a fresh-faced teenager dreaming of the big time. For those roads to provide Solberg the ‘biggest day of his life’ is poetic as it is coincidental.   

“I was just trying to enjoy myself and take it stage by stage, and when you look at the names behind you, they are big names and the fastest guys in the world. I have just been trying to do my own thing and not focus on it, and it has been working quite well” Oliver Solberg

Estonia’s high-speed gravel roads required ultimate commitment, evidenced by this year’s event recording the fastest average speed on record at 117kph. It’s not for the faint-hearted. But Solberg at times made it look simple from the outside even if it was anything but inside the car. There were tears after scoring a maiden “dream come true” WRC stage win on stage two that lifted the Swede from seventh into the lead, which didn’t relinquish for the remaining 18 stages.

Solberg had the benefit of starting eighth on the road on Friday, avoiding much of the road-cleaning, as he built up a 12.4s lead over 2019 world champion and home hero Ott Tanak. But any doubts over Solberg’s Friday showing, declared the “best day of his life”, were well and truly put to bed on Saturday.

Now occupying a road order comparable with his immediate rivals Tanak, Thierry Neuville and Kalle Rovanpera, Solberg not only continued his pace but almost doubled his lead to 21.7s at the end of Saturday. But what was perhaps most impressive was Solberg’s and Edmondson’s ability to stay calm while knowing a dream victory was in reach. 

What was impressive about Solberg’s win was how dominant it was

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“I was just trying to enjoy myself and take it stage by stage, and when you look at the names behind you, they are big names and the fastest guys in the world. I have just been trying to do my own thing and not focus on it, and it has been working quite well,” Solberg explained. 

Edmondson added: “We have helped each other in that process and the maturity is absolutely fantastic to see. It demonstrates where both of us are in our careers and what we are capable of. Okay, we have come here with not so much pressure as the other guys, so for sure we could just enjoy. It shows that we are more than ready for this level.” 

At the end of Saturday, thoughts of victory began to creep into Solberg’s mind, plus there was the prospect of rain arriving to throw a spanner in the works on Sunday. Saturday night didn’t yield any sleep for Solberg. But it didn’t show on Sunday as two more stage wins to take his tally to nine ultimately secured a stunning 25.2s victory over Tanak, who simply couldn’t match the 23-year-old. 

It was a win that rewarded the hard work and dedication and also notched up a century of WRC wins for Toyota as Solberg became the third-youngest WRC winner in history behind Rovanpera and Jari-Matti Latvala. 

“I have always believed that when everything is right it is fully possible to do great things,” said Solberg. “I don’t know [what the future holds], that is for other people to answer. I just do my best.” 

If Solberg was struggling to sleep, spare a thought for his proud parents: 2003 world rally champion Petter and former rally driver turned WRC Commission president Pernilla, both of whom were nervously watching on before greeting him at an emotional finish line.

The 2003 world rally champion Petter Solberg met his son at the finish line

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“It is [like a fairytale], you can’t write it like that, it is surreal. I’m immensely proud. There is nothing else for a parent that is bigger than seeing your child happy and succeeding in achieving their dream,” Pernilla Solberg told Autosport. 

Petter Solberg, who received messages from the likes of double World Rally champion Carlos Sainz and four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, then told Autosport: “I got a question yesterday: why is this possible? I think he has been ready for this mentally for a long time.

“The second thing is that the team and the test team gave him the possibility to find his driving style and find it quite quickly since he only had two days and the confidence he had came from the test.

“I was expecting to be behind Kalle and not Oliver, but he did a great job and was able to dominate. My mistake on Saturday morning cost 15 seconds. But still, Oliver was doing very well and this was not going to change the game, so fair play to him. He has definitely proven he is ready for Rally1″ Ott Tanak

“I thought he could keep a good speed and win some stages, but not on this level. I think his mental strength was unbelievable, what he has shown this weekend, and this is what you need to win, you need to have all this together. It is not only one thing. And then there is the trust he has with Elliott and the relationship they have. That relationship has to be so strong to go that fast.”

Clearly Oliver Solberg and Edmondson deserve a seat at WRC’s top table. But now it is surely a matter of time when, not if, they will return to Rally1 in the future. 

Tanak defeated but takes title race lead

It wasn’t the victory that Tanak and his army of vociferous Estonian fans craved, but in the grand scheme of things, a run to second behind Solberg could prove to be a turning point of the season.

Ott Tanak replaced Elfyn Evans as the WRC points leader

Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

Once again Tanak wasn’t overly happy with his i20 N Rally1 car and was convinced that it wouldn’t deliver the pace he needed to challenge for victory before the event had begun.

“At the moment [the car] is definitely not optimum to take the fight for the win here, we will just try to manage,” the 2019 world champion told Autosport.

This didn’t endear him to Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul, nor did his “I’m impressed by how shit we are” response when he was asked if he was impressed by Solberg’s pace on Saturday afternoon.

Hyundai had focussed much of its development on this year’s heavily revised i20 N on improving its pace on fast gravel rallies. There were signs that the car had indeed made strides forward, but it was not enough for the perfectionist that is Tanak.

A couple of rare missed braking points on stage nine [Raanitsa 1 – 21.45 km] cost Tanak 15 seconds, after he Saturday 12.4s behind Solberg. Ultimately he didn’t have the pace to challenge for victory but instead focussed on fending off Neuville for second. The Hyundai team-mates swapped positions on six occasions through Saturday before Tanak pulled clear on Sunday to claim second. 

The most significant factor of a fourth consecutive podium was the fact it moved Tanak, who is now the WRC’s in-form driver, to the championship lead by a point from Toyota Elfyn Evans. The push for a second world title is most definitely on.

Tanak has now recorded a top-two finish in the last four rallies

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

“I expected a bit that I would be fighting for second place,” Tanak told Autosport. “I already felt before the rally that I would struggle a bit to show the pace here that I should in Estonia on the roads I know.

“I was expecting to be behind Kalle and not Oliver, but he did a great job and was able to dominate. My mistake on Saturday morning cost 15 seconds. But still, Oliver was doing very well and this was not going to change the game, so fair play to him. He has definitely proven he is ready for Rally1 now. We just need to keep ourselves on top of the game.”

Neuville kickstarts title defence  

The reigning world champion was desperate to ignite his title defence after four rounds without a trip to the podium. The speed has been there, evidenced by the Belgian leading the previous two rounds in Sardinia and Greece, only for a crash and back-to-back punctures respectively derailing efforts. 

“We just don’t have the pace on gravel at the moment. There are no excuses. If we cannot do it in Estonia we cannot do it anywhere else. I really tried this weekend but this is the maximum we can do. There is no point lying to yourself. That is the case at the moment” Kalle Rovanpera

Fast gravel rallies have never been Neuville’;s favourite, but when asked what he thought could be achieved in Estonia before the event, he felt that a podium and second place finish was possible. The prediction proved to be spot on as Neuville found himself firmly in the fight at the front.

Neuville continued his knack of winning super special stages to lead the rally heading into Friday before he was overhauled by Solberg on stage two. Unable to match the pace set by Solberg, Neuville became locked in a fight for second with home hero Tanak, who has vastly more experience on these roads. 

Once again Neuville couldn’t find the ultimate confidence to trust the tyre, but only trailed Tanak by four seconds heading into the final day. A 10-second jump-start penalty on Sunday’s stage 18, which he felt was ”super unfair”, dented any hopes of snatching second, but a third place finish [+48.3s] was gratefully welcomed.

Reigning champion Thierry Neuville is fifth in the 2025 standings and 48 points behind Tanak

Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

Rovanpera’s blunt admission 

After winning the previous three WRC editions of the event, often in dominant fashion, Rovanpera was rightly tipped as the pre-Estonia favourite despite his struggles to adjust to the Hankook tyres on gravel this season. 

Given his Estonia record and the fact that Rovanpera has openly admitted that this is his favourite rally on the calendar, this would provide a litmus test to understand exactly where the Finn sits in this year’s pecking order.

Initially Rovanpera appeared to have found his speed again after topping Thursday’s shakedown, and the signs were ominous.

“You never really know before the proper stages, but obviously in the test and in the shakedown the feeling, let’s say, is much better than it has been this year. I think here my natural way works a bit better already, so it is not such a big struggle,” said Rovanpera on Thursday.

However, the shakedown proved to be false dawn as Rovanpera once again struggled to be at one with his GR Yaris Rally1 package on the Hankook rubber when the surface was slick. The most telling statistic is that Rovanpera only claimed one stage win, while in 2023 he won by almost a minute, racking up 15 stage wins, including a streak of 13 consecutive fastest times.

Rovanpera made gradual improvements through the weekend and appeared more comfortable when rain arrived on Sunday, but this wasn’t the usual devastatingly fast Estonia-spec Rovanpera, as he came home a lonely fourth, 55.6s behind Solberg.

It has been a disappointing season for two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“We just don’t have the pace on gravel at the moment. There are no excuses. If we cannot do it in Estonia we cannot do it anywhere else. I really tried this weekend but this is the maximum we can do,” said Rovanpera at the stage end. “There is no point lying to yourself. That is the case at the moment.”

Amid the struggles, a haul of 21 points has reduced the championship gap to 24, but there is work to be done to find a package to challenge for victory in Finland in two weeks’ time. 

“We have a test on Thursday and obviously we will try to analyse everything after this week, where we can improve, and try some new things that we haven’t tried on the car before,” said Rovanpera.

“I think there is some time to find bits, but we also have to bear in mind that Estonia and Finland events are different, and while they are similar in character they are not the same. Time will tell” Elfyn Evans

“That [Solberg’s set-up] is something we can try but it is something from before that hasn’t worked for me, so we can try it again now, but I’m not super confident it will be the best feeling for myself. We need to try something and try to get some good feeling.” 

Evans needs to find speed

Rovanpera’s team-mate Evans has found himself in a similar situation. The Welshman was also struggling to find the sweet spot in his GR Yaris when it came to rotating the car. 

Evans also faced the disadvantage of opening the road, which didn’t help. The damage was limited to a loss of 41.4s on Friday, but there was little progress when the road position improved. Evans also admitted that running a similar set-up to what Solberg was using wasn’t an option to him.

Evans enjoyed a fast start to 2025, but he is now without a podium in four

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Evans again appeared to find some glimpses of pace in Sunday’s damp conditions, but a sixth place [+1m43.4s] finish behind Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux was all he could manage.

Three Super Sunday points were not enough to maintain the championship lead, held since February, meaning he will start the next round in Finland from second on the road behind Tanak. 

Like Rovanpera, Evans feels no urgency to find some speed before Rally Finland to ignite his title push after four rounds without a podium visit.

“I think there is some time to find bits, but we also have to bear in mind that Estonia and Finland events are different, and while they are similar in character they are not the same. Time will tell,” Evans told Autosport. 

“We have to come up with cars that have won there in the past, so we should have a good idea what is required from the car there [after twice winning in Finland in 2021 and 2023].” 

Next up is Rally Finland on 31 July-3 August

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool