Oliver Solberg is currently fighting for his sporting future in the World Rally Championship (WRC). Just under seven weeks before the start of the 2023 season in Monte Carlo, Petter Solberg’s son is still without a cockpit after Hyundai had not extended his contract.
With Toyota’s driver line-up already established, Ford’s M-Sport team is Solberg’s only hope for a Rally1 car cockpit. “M-Sport seems to be an option, it’s still pretty open, but it’s hard to say at the moment,” confirms Solberg to the English-language edition of “Motorsport.com”.
But these are progressing slowly. “It looks a bit difficult,” admits Solberg. And that could be due to a circumstance that would be a blessing for many other drivers: Solberg has a personal sponsor in the energy drink manufacturer Monster.
Conflict of interest between Monster and Red Bull
M-Sport, however, has been driving in the WRC for several years with the logos of its direct competitor Red Bull, which also co-financed the starts of WRC record champion Sebastien Loeb in 2022.
“There was some initial discussion, I think it’s a difficult one because obviously there are some sponsorship conflicts that you have to be aware of,” M-Sport team boss Richard Millener admitted.
“We have a strong relationship with Red Bull and I think it would be wrong for us to do something like that at this point,” Millener said. “It’s a difficult situation for Oliver as there are only a limited number of places available.”
Step back into WRC2 no drama
If Solberg sticks to his partnership with Monster, which dates back to his father Petter’s active days, his path to an M-Sport cockpit could be blocked. The 21-year-old, who drives with a Swedish license, is therefore also looking around for alternatives – in WRC2.
“We are working on different plans at the moment in an R5 car, either privately with the [Volkswagen] Polo or with a team in a different car,” says Solberg. He’s not afraid of stepping back into the “second division.”
“I’m so young so it doesn’t matter. I’d rather do something right than do something halfway and if that means I go back to the R5 and do it right then I’d rather that do,” explains Solberg.