eSportsWRC2

Virtual turns reality for the winner of the Solberg World Cup

2 Mins read
Robin-Jonsson-dominated-the-Solberg-World-Cup-winning-four-from-six-rounds
Credit: Oliver Solberg Media Office

20-year-old DIRT Rally 2.0 racer Robin Jonsson took his fourth win of the six-round online competition and lays claim to the top prize of the inaugural Solberg World Cup in association with DirtFish.

Jonsson picks up a very special prize from Volkswagen Motorsport, his success on Sunday on the final round digitally held in Wales is rewarded with the trophy Volkswagen Motorsport was presented for victory on the 2014 Wales Rally GB, following Sébastien Ogier’s win on the British round of the world championship.

Not only that, but Jonsson will also fly out to the Seattle-based, DirtFish Rally School, to be taught how to drive in real time by 18-year-old WRC2 competitor Oliver Solberg, son of 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg.

Long-time PSRX and Solberg fan Jonsson said “This is insane! Winner of the Solberg World Cup! I can’t believe that I’ll get the opportunity to drive a real rally car with Oliver Solberg at DirtFish Rally School, it’s a dream come true. Big thanks to DirtFish, the Solberg family and their partners for making this possible!”

Second place winner, Lukáš Matêja, will be the only person in the world able to drive DiRT with a genuine wheel from a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 after the technicians at the four-time world championship-winning team converted the wheel for use on a sim.

Jonathan Schaeffer was third at the end of the season and takes away a selection of Solberg-inspired prizes.

Final standings of the Solberg World Cup
Credit: Oliver Solberg Media Office

DirtFish CEO Justin Simpson is looking forward to welcoming the winner, “Solberg World Cup in association with DirtFish has been an awesome competition,” said Simpson.

“The response was better than expected with nearly 17,000 gamers all pushing for the win. I was very impressed with the level of competition. To win the Solberg World Cup required the preparation, talent and will of a true champion. A huge congratulations to Robin for his victory.

There’s no doubt, he’s in for an absolute blast driving one of our Subaru rally cars here at DirtFish Rally School, alongside Oliver. I am sure this will be a trip he will never forget.”

For Oliver, there was disappointment, frustration, delight and pride in equal measure at the end of the six-round series.

“I really wanted to make the top-10 on Volkswagen Motorsport Rally Powys,” said Oliver, who finished thirty-fifth out of 16,706 entries.

“Everything was going quite well for me and I was running in and around the top five when we lost the internet connection and I was forced to retire! This has to be one of the strangest reasons for retirement I will have in competition. It was really frustrating. I love this DiRT game and the roads in Wales are so cool.”

“It’s been a fantastic competition and thank you and congratulations to everybody who competed and made it so special. And big, big congratulations to Robin [Jonsson] – his speed really was incredible. Those times were amazing in all six rallies. I’m really looking forward to meeting Robin in Seattle, not just so we can drive together, but to see if I can take some tips from him to get quicker on DiRT!”

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