2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg only needed five points to claim the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship in Rosario, Argentina yesterday. Just reaching the semi-final would be enough to see him secure back-to-back World Rallycross titles. He did it.
“It’s unbelievable! I found out I was world champion when I was in the toilet – can you believe that?” Solberg said. “This has been a crazy, crazy weekend. In the end, because of the dust, the first day was cancelled, so everything was coming today: all the heats, semis and finals.
“I was nervous as hell to start with, this made me even more nervous. I was hoping to go to sleep on Saturday night with some good points on the board, but nothing.
“And then we had a problem with the car. There was an issue with the wiring loom, which burned out and meant the gear-cut stopped working; this made it so difficult for me to get a gear.
“For me, this is where PSRX showed why we are world champions. Nobody panicked, nobody was worried. OK, I was a little bit stressed, but the guys got the problem fixed.
“As you all know, we have had a big plan for the PSRX team in the second half of this year. I had to drive smart; I couldn’t go flat out all of the time, we couldn’t risk anything. I must admit, I found this so frustrating! All I wanted to do was race and push as hard as I could.
“When we won the title, I couldn’t wait to get out there for the semi-final. The pressure had gone, I wanted to race. The semi went really well, I got into the lead and stayed there until the joker on the final lap. There had been a crash and I went into the joker under waved yellows, so I was quite cautious – it was so slippery in there.
“In the end, I missed the win in the semi-final, but the second row for the final meant a really exciting race. Actually, it was quite a crazy race, the first few corners were unbelievable; I have no idea what actually happened! I ended up on the grass and I think I was actually last! Then [Mattias] Ekström hit me in the side coming off his joker lap. I’m sure he didn’t even see me! But it was quite a big hit and broke the steering – I was happy to make the podium in the end.
“It would have been the perfect finish to win, but really I don’t care so much. I came here with one objective and we did that.
“We didn’t come to Argentina for a glass of champagne, we came for the bottle. And we got it.”
“I am the world champion again!”
Results, final round 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship:
1 Robin Larsson 4m16.346s
2 Mattias Ekström 4m16.799s
3 Petter Solberg 4m21.587s
4 Janis Baumanis 4m23.042s
5 Timmy Hansen DNF
6 Kevin Hansen DNF
Drivers’ championship positions:
1 Petter Solberg 297pts
2 Timmy Hansen 274pts
3 Johan Kristoffersson 234pts
4 Andreas Bakkerud 232pts
5 Davy Jeanney 201pts
6 Mattias Ekström 196pts
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