Oliver Solberg stongly believes that he deserved to finish at least in fourth position overall after the mistake he made in Stage 3 of Rally Sweden and admits that he underestimated how difficult it would be to open the road.
Solberg was opening the road on Friday as he was leading the championship at the end of Rallye Monte Carlo. He started well his home event as he was the fastest driver in Stage 1. However, he had a half spin in Stage 2 resulting in slipping behind the first Evans at the end of SS2 while he had two exits in Stage 3 resulting in damaging the front left tyre. After this incident, Solberg dropped from second to sixth, but he managed to take two positions and to overtake Esapekka Lappi and Adrien Fourmaux on the classification. Since then, he was trying to close his gap from the third Sami Pajari who responded by setting the fastest time in Stage 12 and 14. In total, Solberg won four stages at Rally Sweden and is currently second overall on the championship as he is 13 points behind his teammate, Evans.
"Of course I was hoping for more from my home rally but I think I underestimated how difficult it would be on Friday". Solberg said.
"My mistake maybe cost a podium and put me on the back foot for the rest of the weekend, but fourth is probably the best I deserve.
"There’s been a lot of learning in my first proper snow rally with this car and my first time starting first on the road.
"I tried my best and scored some decent points.
"The support has been amazing and I’ve really enjoyed myself in the car.
"A big thanks to the team: they’ve done a great job and this 1-2-3-4 is a fantastic result".
Photo Credits: Toyota
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