Royal Rally of Scandinavia is a new event that utilises some of the famous roads that were part of Rally Sweden when the WRC round was based in the Varmland region around the city of Karlstad, before its move to north to Umea in 2022. The route will include the iconic Colin’s Crest named after the late 1995 world rally champion Colin McRae.
The rally has attracted 47 entries, and the Solberg family will attract plenty of attention on home soil.
Oliver Solberg is among the entries as the 21-year-old tackles his first ERC event of the season driving the Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 he drove in the championship in 2019 and 2020.
The former Hyundai factory driver will be joined on Friday’s Ängebäckstorp test and Saturday’s Collins stage by five other members of his family. His 2003 world rally champion father Petter and mother Pernilla will also be back behind the wheel, alongside his former uncle Henning Solberg, who competed in the WRC from 1998 to 2019.
Petter Solberg is set to drive a family owned Citroen C4 WRC, which he drove to third in the 2010 WRC standings. He will be joined in the co-drover seat by his mother Tove.
“What can I say? It’s going to be a very special week for us,” said Petter Solberg.
“For me, it’s very cool that I get to drive my mother in a rally car. You know, she’s an amazing driver herself – she won so many Norwegian Autocross titles. She’s 72 and I’m sure she’s going to be giving me some advice when we take the start line.
“Honestly, when we first heard about the plans for this rally, we were completely behind it.
“For Värmland, this is a big event and a big deal. It’s been a couple of years without Rally Sweden in the area, so to bring rallying back at almost the highest level is very important.
Pernilla Solberg and Ulrika Mattsson
Photo by: Petter Solberg Media Office
“And it’s a lot for us Solbergs too. We have a lot of family, friends and partners coming to the event – it’s a fantastic way to show them what we are doing all of our lives!”
During the 1990s, Pernilla Solberg (nae Walfridsson) was a regular competitor in the WRC scene. This weekend she will be reunited with the Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI she drove to success in the 2000 WRC, and will once again drive alongside co-driver from the period Ulrika Mattsson.
“For Ulrika and I it will be incredible to start a stage together again after such a long time,” said Pernilla Solberg.
“We had some amazing times together and for one weekend it’s going to be special to share some time and those memories.
“It’s also going to be quite strange to drive these roads in the summer. Places like the Vargåsen stage will be very different – coming into Colin’s Crest with no snow and everybody wearing t-shirts and shorts will be weird. But it’s going to be huge fun.”
The Solberg contingent is completed by Henning and his wife Maud, who will drive Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD owned by Petter.