Petter Solberg is looking forward to returning to Turkey for this weekends round of the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship to avenge his 2014 result at the former Grand Prix circuit.
The SDRX Driver retired from the 2014 event and is looking to continue his winning form after securing victory in the previous round held on the Barcelona Grand Prix circuit and triumph at the Turkish venue:
“I must admit, we left the Intercity Park track a little bit disappointed last year,” said Solberg. “Yes, we were world champions again – we’d won the title at the previous race in Italy – but then we retired from the final in Turkey. I don’t like that and neither does the PSRX team. These guys work so hard to make the car perfect, we all find it hard to accept when something goes wrong. Which is why we’re out to put it right this time.”
However the 2014 WorldRX is well aware of the rapid pace of development during the 2015 season so far, but he and the SDRX Team have been working hard to develop the Citroen DS3 Supercar further as the competition improves.
“There’s no doubt that the racing has been getting harder and harder as the season has progressed. You look at what the likes of Peugeot is doing with the car and the effort going into the 208 and we are, as a private team, always going to find it hard to match that resource. But don’t worry – we haven’t been standing still either. Every time the team gets back to Torsby, we get our heads down and study every aspect of the car to look for more development and more speed,” explained Solberg.
“As you know, we’re coming to the really sharp end of the season now, when points are so valuable to us. As a team, we have our target for every race and if we achieve those targets then we’ll reach the big goal for 2015.”
For Solberg, the aim is to score a minimum amount of points at each round, however he admits he is still a racer at heart and enjoys the thrill of racing hard against the competition.
“But… races like the last one in Barcelona don’t really help. I just love racing! I know we have a plan as the team and everything, but I can’t help how competitive I am in the car. Some times it’s really tough to not listen to my natural instinct to attack and go for the win. When that gap opened up at the first corner in Catalunya, I was straight in there, chasing P1 and pushing for the win. That’s what we’re about,” said Solberg.
“This weekend will be another big fight between my head and my heart. But I know I have to go with the head. We showed last season that consistency wins titles and that’s what we’re after again this time around.”
