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Fantastic victory for 17-year-old Oliver Solberg at Rally Liepaja

  • Oliver Solberg at Rally Liepaja
  • Petter Solberg and Oliver Solberg
  • Oliver Solberg

Oliver Solberg, the 17-year-old son of former world rally champion Petter Solberg, scored his greatest win in a career today at Rally Liepaja in Latvia, the third round of the 2019 European Rally Championship.

The young Solberg and his navigator Aaron Johnston were sharing the #10 Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 in a dominant victory over the reigning European rally champion Alexey Lukyanuk in a Citroen C3 R5. After thirteen special stages, in which Solberg was fastest ten times, the gap was 22.7 seconds between the leader and the runner-up. The Latvian Martins Sesks (Škoda Fabia R5) finished third in his home event, 57.4 seconds behind Solberg.

Lukasz Habaj (Škoda Fabia R5) and Chris Ingram (Škoda Fabia R5), the championship leaders before the Latvian round, finished fifth and fourth respectively and stayed on the top of ERC standings. Habaj is first with 71 points, Ingram follows with 70 points on his account. The next ERC event would be the Rally Poland on June 28-30.

Oliver Solberg, Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, Rally Liepaja, European Rally Championship

Oliver Solberg’s Volkswagen Polo GTI R5

There were few national championship rallies on the European continent this weekend. The most interesting was the 42nd Riihimäki Ralli as the fourth round of the Finnish Rally Championship. Two youngsters in World Rally Cars fought for the victory. In the end, Takamoto Katsuta has won in a Toyota Yaris WRC, defeating by twelve seconds Jari Huttunen in a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. Juha Salo finished third in a Škoda Fabia R5.

Boštjan Avbelj (Škoda Fabia R5) has won the 34th Rally Velenje, the round of the Slovenian rally championship and the Mitropa Rally Cup.In Romania, Simone Tempestini (Hyundai i20 R5) has won the 11th Rally Aradului, the round of the Romanian championship and Balkan Tally Trophy.

Takamoto Katsuta and Jari Huttunen ta Riihimaki Rally

Takamoto Katsuta and Jari Huttunen at Riihimaki Rally

In Germany, the 53rd Sachsen Rallye was the second round of the DRM – German Rally Championship. Unfortunately, the event was stopped after a fatal accident of Kai Gunther (48) and his navigator Sebastian Walker (44) on the first special stage in a Renault Clio R3T.

Photos: Volkswagen Motorsport,

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