Petter Solberg endured a tough weekend in round six of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Sweden.
Difficult weather conditions would mean for a challenging circuit and this sent the order all topsy turvy, with Solberg one of the drivers to lose out in his Q1 race as contact with Davy Jeanney saw the Norwegian driver retire from his race. However Solberg switched to fightback mode in Q2 where he finished in fifth place overall before going fastest overall in Q3. He followed this up by going third fastest in Q4 and almost unbeleivably qualified for the Semi-Finals after being classified 19th overall at the end of Q1. Solberg duly qualified for Semi-Final one and was looking good for third place and a spot in the Final until Johan Kristoffersson took his joker on the last lap and demoted the Norwegian to fourth place, pushing him out of the Final completely.
Once again the PSRX Citroen DS3 has the speed of its rivals however lady luck seemed to have deserted the former WRC Champion on this occaision and he was positive about the outcome of the weekend:
“It’s fair to say this hasn’t been the best weekend for us. Maybe we got out of jail a little bit here, with the points difference staying the same,” Solberg explained. “The good thing is that, once again, we showed we had the speed to fight at the front, but the weekend has been a challenging one for us.”
Solberg went on to praise the spectacle put on by his competitors who reached the Supercar Final, “The racing was good for the guys in the final and another win for Andreas [Bakkerud] is good for him. I’m happy for [Sébastien] Loeb as well and for Timmy [Hansen] also on the podium. But you know me, I’m a fighter and I always want to be in the final and trying to take points. It hurts when we don’t get there.”
As ever the Double World RX champion is already looking to the second half of the 2016 season to launch his comeback in the Drivers Championship:
“I’m very disappointed, but I’m also kind of relieved! Now we have some time before Canada and we will work again on the strategy. For sure, the second half of the season looks very bright and very, very exciting for PSRX.”
