After dominant victories in WRC2 in Rally Sweden, Portugal and most recently, Greece, which saw Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson take the championship lead, the on-form duo is set to return to Rally1 with Toyota Gazoo Racing on Delfi Rally Estonia in two weeks’ time.
It will be the young Swede’s first Rally1 appearance since splitting with Hyundai in 2022 and reported to be a one-off appearance.
“The moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here,” Solberg said in a video message shared on social media. “Me and Elliott will be back in the Rally1 car with Toyota Gazoo Racing. It’s been a moment, and a dream come true. We’ve been waiting for a very long time.”
“After a super strong season so far, I think we’re more than ready. We’re confident, we’ve built a great relationship with the team, and now I just want to start the rally and give it a good go. Let’s see what we can do – we’re there to have some fun, gain experience with the car, and hopefully make the most of this opportunity.”
Solberg’s absence from the WRC2 bunfight leaves the fight wide open with Nikolay Gryazin the likely favourite for the category win.
In other news out of the Toyota Gazoo Racing camp is that Sebastien Ogier has elected to enter Rally Finland at the end of the month.
hinting that the lure of the Jyväskylä jumps and last year’s success – where he claimed a second career Finland victory – proved too tempting to resist.
Ogier had not previously been expected to appear at the high-speed gravel event this year, but admitted the idea had been on his mind for some time.
“My summer will actually not be as free as initially planned,” he explained. “Since a little while, I was thinking that doing again Rally Finland would be something nice, as obviously last year was a great rally for me with my second win up there.
“So I mentioned since a while ago to the team that, yeah, why not maybe adding Rally Finland to the list and try to have fun on these beautiful roads. So yeah, I will be at the start in a bit more than four weeks now, so I’m looking forward to see you there.”
