It’s father and son against the world as Petter and Oliver Solberg head down under for this weekend’s Race of Champions (ROC) in Sydney.
Team Norway arrives in Australia in search of an ROC Nations Cup hat trick.
But… it will also be father versus son as the pair chase the Champion of Champions crown across a one-kilometre track inside the city’s Accor Stadium.
Predictably, both Solbergs are ready, willing, and waiting to take on the best of the best in whatever machinery they’re given the keys to. And the best of the best includes stars of the World Rally Championship like Sébastien Loeb and Hayden Paddon and Formula 1 heroes such as Sebastian Vettel and Finns Valtteri Bottas and Heikki Kovalainen.
“Race of Champions is one of the events I always look forward to,” said three-time FIA World Champion Petter. “I think you all know how much the competition is meaning to me and Oliver – we hate to lose! But, this is also a fantastic chance to meet and spend time with so many friends from before.
“It’s also really nice to be in Australia and in the Southern Hemisphere for the first time for ROC Sydney. I drove lots of times in the WRC and won the event in Perth on the other side of the country; the people are really cool, friendly, and knowledgeable for the sport.”
Oliver and Petter will drive a variety of cars in Friday’s Nations Cup and the Race of Champions event on Saturday, including a Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86 Cup.
Oliver, who leads the WRC2 standings after his Rally Sweden win, looks forward to the variety of machinery.
“This is one of the things I really like about ROC,” said Oliver. “You get to race in equal cars, so the playing field is really level. And having the Toyota and Subaru there is very cool. I am driving the Toyota [GR Yaris Rally2] in the WRC this year and I think the world knows about how big my father’s history is with Subaru!
“Like my dad said, the competition is big and it’s tough. We start this event with two wins for Team Norway in Nations Cup and, of course, we want the third one. But when it comes to the main Race of Champions, this is where the battle is really for yourself. Imagine if it was me versus my dad in the final… how awesome would that be!”