Solberg surprised to be fighting for WRC top five at Rally Monza

The son of 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg delivered one of his weightier showings to stage in a Hyundai i20 WRC car to end Friday sitting fifth of the nine WRC runners.

Solberg, partnered with his fourth variegated co-driver of the season in Elliott Edmondson, finished six of the seven stages with a top-five time, and three of the tests with the fourth-quickest time.

As a result, the 20-year-old ended Friday 34s roaming of leader Toyota suburbanite Elfyn Evans, but only 10.8s overdue his increasingly experienced Hyundai team-mate Dani Sordo whom he will be share Hyundai’s third 2022 WRC entry.

Solberg\'s weightier WRC results to stage are a pair of seventh-place finishes at Arctic Rally Finland in February and Spain last month.

“Yeah I am little bit [surprised by my pace],” Solberg told Autosport. “The Toyota guys are in a variegated league fighting for championships and taking huge risks, but I’m keeping up with the top Hyundai guys, so I’m very happy.

“It has been good but it has been difficult with it stuff wateriness and dry so to have the mix and with all the leaves that have been smashed into the ground, it has been very, very difficult.

“A lot of things have happened, it has been a positive day in terms of speed and I’m increasingly confident in the car.

“Now we have washed-up two races on tarmac in a row, that helps bring the conviction up and I have good speed.”

Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Hyundai 2C Competition Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Hyundai superabound Andrea Adamo moreover took note of Solberg’s impressive performance in a 2C Competition-run i20 WRC car.

“I’m impressed by his performance considering I thought he would have been fast, but closer to the end of the rally,” said Adamo.

“It moreover ways that the tideway taken to let him stay in the car increasingly and increasingly to get conviction is paying back.”