PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team principal Pernilla Solberg had mixed feelings coming away from the fourth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship as Johan Kristofferson won the finals while Petter Solberg exited the weekend in the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals Kristoffersson and Solberg got caught up on the start with the Norwegian coming out worse from the situation with damaged bodywork.
“Firstly, a huge congratulations to Johan. What a fantastic final for him. What happened in the semi-final with him and Petter was really unfortunate, but these things can happen when we are racing.
“Of course we are all sad for Petter, but when you have both cars in the same semi-final and then both of them on the front row, it can be a bit of a nightmare scenario. We saw some of that today.
“One of the real positives to come out of the situation in the semi-final is the co-operation we made between the organisers, the FIA and all the teams.
“After the incident involving one of the other cars in Belgium, we were all working to make a better system with the red flag and today we saw the results of all that work.
“Everybody did a great job, the race director and everybody – we had real clarity on what was happening and how much time we had to work on the car.”
She added, “Like I said, it’s tough for Petter, but you know Johan’s third win of the season is really something to celebrate for the team.”
The most recent visit to the UK for the World RX competitors saw them race at the new rallycross circuit at Silverstone as part of the Speedmachine festival, Solberg was impressed by what was going on off of the circuit.
“And finally, we have to say congratulations on SpeedMachine. The promoter has put so much work into this event and to see so many people coming and having such a good time is really a good reward for them.
“There are still some areas we want to work on and improve, but we have a great foundation and a great dialogue with IMG and the FIA.”
