Petter the Flying Norwegian

As Rallycross is gaining popularity and support also from FIA, the one man that is the face of this series is the flying Norwegian Petter Solberg. Petter debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg started his successful partnership with the Subaru World Rally Team. Following Subaru’s withdrawal from WRC at the end of the 08 season, Petter secured private backing to start the Petter Solberg World Rally Team and continued to compete in WRC with Citroen. He switched to Rallycross after the 2012 season and in 2014 became the inaugural winner of the FIA World Rallycross Championship with five race wins and nine podiums finishes. He repeated his title in 2015. Racing begins with four qualifying heats in which each of the 4 series there are smaller races containing 3 to 5 cars. The driver with the fastest overall race time is the qualifying winner and advances to the next heat. The two Semi-Finals consist of a six cars battle and are run over 6 laps. The top three drivers in each of the semi-final move into the final round which determines the overall event winner.  If you have not seen a Rallycross event you’re missing out, it’s fast, furious and very entertaining.

Before you leave you might be interested to read another of our Paddock Chronicle about speed racer Marco Andretti