Double FIA World Rallycross champion Petter Solberg was in a buoyant mood after coming away from Belgium with a second place finish in the third round of the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship.
Throughout the qualifying races Solberg remained in the top two places with a second place in Q1 and Q4 plus to wins in Q2 and Q3.
“I was happy to lead after Q2 and overnight, but Sunday morning really didn’t go to plan.” commented Solberg.
“Things came together much better in the semi-final, but the conditions were so tricky for the final.
“The grip was so inconsistent across the track, you had to be really careful – but when you are in the fight, you just try to go like hell and then deal with it!”
After taking victory in the semi-final race Solberg would go on to secure second place in the in the final behind old rally rival Sébastien Loeb.
Credit: FIA World RX / IMG
“What a race that final was! And what a weekend this has been… incredible.”
Things could have gone wrong a the start of the race though when team-mate Johan Kristoffersson was squeezed in to the barriers at the first corner, pushing him up on to two wheels, if it wasn’t for Solbergs car being where it was on track the Swede would have most likely rolled over.
“That first corner… what happened? I still have no idea.” said the excitable Norwegian. “I had hits on both sides, at one point I just wanted to close my eyes and hope I came out of the other side!
“When we did come out of the corner, everything was OK. I thought: “OK, the car is good, let’s go for it – I can win this!”
Despite missing out on the win Solberg remained upbeat as he returned to the podium for the second race weekend running, this time going one better for second place.
“I really thought we had a good chance of the win, but I’m happy with second place and some good points after what’s been a bit of a crazy weekend.”
