One of his Toyota teammates, the experienced Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, was behind Oliver Solberg in Japan's World Cup rally in May and after the Swede's crash he said: "The risks he takes are too big."
Solberg can only agree. The margins were many times too small in the races on asphalt – in Croatia, Spain and Japan.
- The speed was so extremely high right away and the feeling in the car so good... well, I learned the hard way.
As a gravel specialist, he already knew before the season that the asphalt races would be his biggest challenge. But then the race weekends started so well and the 25-year-old felt "I can beat these seasoned guys". Then came the small mistakes that turned fatal.
- Many tried to say "you drive too fast", but I think that the speed is what keeps me in the WC now - that I have managed to push on Sundays and get good points. It's more a matter of more patience and accepting that you can't push every stretch 100 percent. And about experience, especially when fighting with Ogier on tarmac.
Solberg bounced back and took a confidence-boosting second place in Portugal in the sixth World Cup event, but he describes weekends four, five and seven as frustrating. All the more so because he had shown in the premiere, on the asphalt in Monte Carlo, that he can master the surface.
That he won the prestigious competition in Monaco was beyond all expectations. The plan was really to get off to a stable start and get a good starting position before the favorite competition, the Swedish Rally, which the Värmlander won three years in a row in the second highest class. Now it was the other way around, that he, as the first car, became a snowplow in the newly fallen snow and it ended with a fourth place.
In the same vein, there was disappointment on the private level when the Swedish Migration Agency rejected fiancee Chloe Chambers' application for a residence permit. The plan to have the house in Mitandersfors as a base during the year had to be scrapped and the summer wedding in Värmland postponed to the future. Instead, the couple has mainly lived on her parents' couch in England.
A new application has been submitted – "not because we understand what to do, but you don't give up" – and now they are crossing their fingers. He does not know if the process affected him as a driver.
- There is no point in thinking about it too much, but mentally it has been very tough. It hasn't affected between the two of us but has been frustrating...leaving everything, changing life, not knowing what's going on.
To be able to be together, they traveled to Africa earlier than planned, ahead of the third competition of the year. Rally-wise, Kenya offered new problems when mud destroyed the generator and the Swede's lead went up in smoke. Then followed the asphalt races, where many important WC points also disappeared.
How did you work mentally in that situation when you had had quite a few tough competitions?
- It's easy to overthink and panic a little and just slow down completely. I saw a common thread in my little mistakes, but there aren't many who can compete with the top boys right away in their first season. So I tried to hold on to that pride; I thought about the 95 percent where I was extremely strong and then the 5 percent that I needed to work on.
- It's the patience part again. You shouldn't chase a perfect feeling, but take it step by step and accept things like "okay, the rain came". I have learned this and finally in Chile everything worked perfectly (victory for Solberg; eds note) and now I have had four extremely good races and scored the most points of all. When you think about all the crap that was in the middle of the season, it's pretty cool that I'm still in the fight.
Oliver Solberg is third in the WC summary, on 209 points - after Elfyn Evans (230) and Sami Pajari (213). With only one stage remaining, in Sardinia this weekend.
The season was due to end in Saudi Arabia in November but the event has been canceled due to the unrest in the region. A correct decision, says the Swedish star, but he and many others in the sport believe that the International Federation of Motor Sports had plenty of time to find an alternative competition venue.
With two races left, the chances of winning the WC title on their own merits would have been great, Solberg believes. Now it may not be enough even if he takes the maximum 35 points – Evans must then finish as a maximum of fourth with a maximum of two bonus points from Sunday.
- There is no point in thinking too much about "what?" and "how?" and what everyone else must do. I have to do my job and have a perfect race and then you just have to wait and see. I have faith that it can work.
Regardless of the outcome, you have secured at least a third place. What grade are you giving yourself right now?
- It has been a learning season and there is no point in digging too much, but it is easy to think "one less unlucky race or one more race in which I did better and it would have looked quite different". Rating ... well, we'll see if I win ... which I am very proud - of my speed and performance and the fights with Ogier - but maybe I don't rate very high, I'm a little disappointed.
