Petter Solberg made history in Canada on Friday by becoming the first man to win the nation’s round of the World Rallycross Championship – and the first man to win two World RX rounds this season. Oh, and he didn’t just win. He dominated.
Solberg said: “The only one that was happier than me after this win was my son Oliver!
“We came straight to Canada after he won his Crosskart race and he told me I had to do the same, which I did! It was a fantastic day, winning three heats out of four, the semi-final and the final. I wanted this kind of result after the last round in Belgium, where broken rear suspension robbed me of victory.
“But, driving was only part of the win this time. This win came from behind the scenes. This win was for the team and for my mechanics. I must say, they are the true heroes here. These guys who wear the PSRX overalls are the best in the world and I’m proud to have them with me. They made sure I could win this one. This was the first time we did a whole round in one day and the mechanics were so busy they couldn’t even get a bite to eat! I would never have won without them.
“But, the job’s not done yet. We still have five World RX rounds left this year. And we have a lot of work to keep the car competitive. The good news is, I have the best team in the world to do that work!
“We’re winning again and to fly home leading the championship by 20 points is just fantastic! Equally, I know a lot about the way things can turn around, so I take nothing for granted. My dream is to become the first world champion on four wheels in two different motorsports. We will continue to fight hard for that dream to come true.”
The start to the second half of the season is identical to the start to the first half: winning. The Trois-Rivieres circuit, close to Quebec, was a tricky one, but Petter was inch-perfect as ever – especially between the ultimately unforgiving concrete barriers which lined this street circuit.
The PSRX team now flies back to Europe to prepare the Citroen DS3 Supercar for what will be one of the busiest and most popular World RX rounds of the season in Loheac, France. But the team flies east today (Saturday) as winners, riding high and on top of the world.
Final result:
1 Toomas Heikkinen 4m05.840s
2 Timmy Hansen 4m06.175s
3 Johan Kristoffersson 4m06.988s
4 Petter Solberg 4m08.768s
5 Anton Marklund 4m12.534s
6 Pontus Tidemand N/A
Championship positions:
1 Petter Solberg 125pts
2 Reinis Nitiss 122pts
3 Toomas Heikkinen 117pts
4 Andreas Bakkerud 99pts
5 Anton Marklund 85pts
6 Timmy Hansen 78pts