SDRX driver Petter Solberg took his first win of the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship last weekend at Hockenheim after a dominant display.
Solberg and team-mate Liam Doran topped the timesheets over the three days of WorldRX action that shared the legendary Hockenheim track with the DTM in a unique double header of tin top racing. During the Heat Stages, Solberg started off slowly before going quickest in heats three and four to lead the standings. Victory in Semi-Final One led to pole position in the Supercar Final and Solberg cruised to his first 2015 victory.
However, his weekend had a difficult start to it as he adapted his Citroen DS3 set-up to the track.
“The weekend didn’t start quite so well when we struggled a little bit in the first heat,” said Solberg. “We were pushed off the track and got back on to finish 16th, that wasn’t exactly the result we were hoping for in race one… But, as always with this brilliant PSRX team, we had a good and very secure plan and strategy for the weekend. We worked hard on our strategy and I completely believe in it; we fought our way back to the top by being consistent and keeping out of trouble. Oh, and by being quite fast as well!”
Solberg was overjoyed at taking his first victory of the year in front of both WorldRX and DTM fans and knows he has a difficult title defence ahead of him.
“This is a great victory and a special one with World RX round two being part of the DTM, with thousands of spectators and a lot of spectacle,” added Solberg. “The level of competition in the championship is higher than last year. I can see that my rivals have developed during the winter, and so have the semi-factory team cars. Even though we are leading the championship by 15 points, we know it will be very hard to defend the lead. We have 11 more races to go this year and I expect a big fight at every one of those 11 races. Luckily for me I just love tight fights!”
Adding to his victory, the 2014 WorldRX Champion is also happy to see that SDRX is leading the Teams Trophy after two events.
“I can’t go without saying a word about PSRX: my team is just amazing. I can’t thank them enough,” insisted Solberg. “They have worked extremely hard the last couple of months, but in the end of the day the results make up for all the effort. Of course, it’s not just one championship we are leading. Along with Liam Doran, we are at the top of the Teams’ standings as well. I think we can definitely call this a good weekend!”
