Silverstone in Northampton will play host to the new SpeedMachine Festival in 2018, which will include the World RX of Great Britain during the weekend’s activities. During the launch event, we spoke with Double FIA World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg about his thoughts on this new venture.
With your first win of 2017 only a few days before this launch, has the winning feeling died down yet?
“No, it hasn’t yet. The feeling is special for me and the whole team. I tell you that I have been putting so much hard work into both this year and the team to get to where we are now,” explained Solberg.
“As you know we started very late and its all those details where we had the chance to win in the early races and didn’t that we have fixed now. It always the small details that make the difference. I feel very confident now that things will be good.”
Petter Solberg has that winning feeling again. Credit: Volkswagen Motorsport / Colin McMaster
With the Drivers Championship looking like a three way fight at the moment, how do you see things progressing during the second half of the season?
“The thing is, what ever we say, anyone could lose a lot. Always take the win when you have the chance but also don’t take the big risks,” said the Norwegian. “You can never be too confident in this sport as things can change very quickly from race to race and you know me, we will always do our best as the season continue.”
“With his three wins at the start of the year, I think that Mattias got too confident and too safe. Where as at the same time we have been working flat out in the background and when the time was right, we stepped up as he lost out.”
Petter Solberg has been fast all season so far, however his luck changed at Lydden Hill. Credit: PSRX Volkswagen Team Sweden
Having seen the plans for the SpeedMachine Festival, how do you think this will turn out next year?
I think this will be very very interesting, you know that we have been very impressed with Lydden Hill and the track itself there is fantastic, however it will be really interesting to see the Silverstone Rallycross combination in action next year,” said the PSRX Volkswagen Team Sweden driver.
“Lets hope it will be a fantastic event and a very exciting one which puts no small pressure on the organisers here!”
With his best finish of 2nd place at the 2014 World RX of Norway, can Solberg finally win his home round? Copyright: PSRX Volkswagen Team Sweden
Finally, I asked Solberg the all important question.
Can he take the win at his home round this weekend, The World RX of Norway?
“Well I’ve been struggling to do this now over the past few years but now we have a new car so I think we should be able to fight at the top of the timesheets,” he explained.
“Some of the other cars we know are very very good for that type of track so we will do everything we can, but the aim this year is to win the Teams Championship so we have to think about the total package.”
