How Solberg tamed an extreme Rally Monte Carlo to join the WRC greats

If you receive a congratulatory message from Sebastien Loeb then something special has happened. Last weekend Oliver Solberg was the recipient of one of these from the nine-time world rally champion after delivering a quite sensational victory in one of the most challenging Rally Monte Carlos on record.

Shortly after Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson crossed the finish line and jumped on the roof of their Toyota GR Yaris, eight-time Monte winner Loeb posted on social media: “That day, I saw your talent. This week, the world saw your talent. Hats off Oliver Solberg and to your copilot. Petter, you can really be proud," The words were attached to a picture of Loeb, Oliver and his father Petter Solberg, when a 16-year-old Solberg tested a rally car on asphalt for the first time.

It was a message thoroughly warranted. Monte Carlo is regarded as one of motorsport’s most revered challenges given its notoriously difficult mountain asphalt rounds where danger is lurking around every corner, a prospect made even worse by the changeable wintry conditions. In recent years Monte Carlo has been a largely dry asphalt sprint, but not this year. The weather had other ideas and created a scene from the Monte Carlos of old.

During Solberg’s 24 years on this planet only five drivers have successfully tamed the Monte in the WRC era, until the Swede joined the elite club; Tommi Makinen, Marcus Gronholm, Sebastien Loeb, Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville.

Solberg’s performance left jaws on the floor as he beat Toyota-team-mate Elfyn Evans by 51.8s, with the undisputed Monte master and 10-time winner Ogier more than two minutes adrift in third.

To beat Mr Monte Carlo, a driver with 15 podiums from 17 starts, required something extraordinary. But Solberg fast becoming a conjurer of the extraordinary, having already shocked the rally world by winning on his Toyota Rally1 debut in Estonia last year. That result was mind-blowing but last weekend’s Monte Carlo eclipses that by some margin given the extreme conditions and the competition he was up against.

Ogier was powerless to stop Solberg, but he was hampered by opening the road on the first two days

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The Swede himself had earmarked a top five as a result he would be happy with, given this was his first WRC event as a full-time factory Toyota driver in the top tier. So to win it in the manner he did quite rightly left Solberg finding it difficult to comprehend what he’d achieved.

"I don't understand it at the moment. It's another emotional day. The most difficult rally I've done in my life. It's my first rally on tarmac for me in the car on tarmac and here we are winning the thing,” said an emotional Solberg after he’d crossed the finish line.

How did Solberg pull off such a feat?

This sensational run to victory began on a Thursday night that tested crews due to snow and ice that had blanketed the roads, offering up the most extreme conditions the event had witnessed for more than a decade.

"When I think about the first night, even Seb [Ogier] was nervous and wasn’t so relaxed when he started. On Thursday night Oliver was the most relaxed driver and he focused the energy to exactly the right point and he made the difference" Jari-Matti Latvala

Solberg did have a small advantage of road position, but still required an astonishing piece of driving to go more than 30s faster than anyone in the second stage, before ending the night 44.3s clear of Evans, with Ogier 1m08.6s adrift.

“I don’t know what to say, it was incredible. I’m so happy and relieved to be here as every corner changed and every kilometre changed,” said Solberg. “When I saw the gap was 31s, I was a bit surprised, yes. When you are in the stage, you never feel that it is good enough.”

It was this stunning start that ultimately set up the platform for victory, according to Toyota’s team principal Jari-Matti Latvala, who for once wasn’t jealous of the crews tackling the stages due to the adverse conditions.

Solberg survived an off on Stage 12 - yet still won the test

Photo by: McKlein Photography / LAT Images via Getty Images

"When I think about the first night, even Seb [Ogier] was nervous and wasn’t so relaxed when he started. On Thursday night Oliver was the most relaxed driver and he focused the energy to exactly the right point and he made the difference," said Latvala. "You could see in that moment that the other drivers were getting stressed about his performance and he managed to surprise everybody and after that he had a bit more in the pocket he could play with, that was the key. He drove differently. If you look at the snow and ice how he managed to go with the car with the flow and dancing the car. His strengths were definitely in those difficult conditions. The road position maybe helped a bit in the beginning, but not massively."

Solberg has stated on many occasions that Ogier is his idol. The pair have developed a strong relationship in recent years that included the latter offering Oliver advice before his Estonia success last year. Solberg was still keen for tips after blitzing his rival who struggled for speed on Hankook tyres that struggled to clear the snowy slush. “I will harass him [Seb] for tips, I don’t care if he doesn’t talk to me, I will still harass him for all the experience he has you know,” Solberg added with a smile.

But in truth Solberg didn’t seem to need any advice. Even a slow puncture in stage five couldn’t stop him from extending his lead to 1m08.4 come the end of Friday.

“It is a minute lead and it is great but in Monte Carlo anything can happen like when I got the slow puncture. You need a bit of luck too,” he said. “I’m a very relaxed guy and I have fun with what I do and love my life. In the car I stress but I’m very focused in the car and your head is extreme, 1000% focused but not stressed. [The win in] Estonia was easy compared to here, you just drove and had fun there, but here so many things can go wrong in one small thing in a corner. We have seen in the past that it is never over until it's over. You can’t risk it all the time.”

One carryover from Estonia though was Solberg sticking to his set up philosophy that had proved so successful. In Estonia he went in a different direction to his team-mates and did so again in Monte Carlo. This, coupled with an ability to feel the grip on the snow and ice and know when and where to push, proved formidable.

“It is the same as Estonia and here I just follow what I need in the car and follow my philosophy and the team believes in me and believes in what I need,” he said. “It is very different to the other guys, it is the same as Estonia but it is what I feel comfortable with, especially when it is slippery and changing conditions is where I can really use it.”

Set up approach and mentality were huge strengths of Solberg in Monte Carlo

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While the times seemed to be coming to Solberg with comparative ease, from the outside at least, the intensity inside the car was high. To win Monte Carlo requires a slice of good fortune which arrived in stage 12 - La Breole / Bellaffaire 2 - a test that caught out Neuville, Sami Pajari, Adrien Fourmaux and Hayden Paddon.

Solberg was shuffled off the road by the snow and ice and ran through a fence, but luckily he ventured into a field and managed to spin the car around before firing it over a ditch and back onto the road. But even in this recovery, his mind was calm. Incredibly, he still won the stage by 1.9s from Evans which outlined his speed that placed him in a league of his own.

“I tried to drive as clean as I could but it [the stage] still took me out,” Solberg explained. “When I went into the ditch, I thought it was ok and I just slammed it down the gears and went full throttle up the mountain, and I thought I need to take the speed with me. There was this ditch before the road and If I went with the front I would break the radiator so I thought I would go sideways, and it was fine and I still won the stage.”

"To win Rally Monte Carlo is an incredible result and a dream come true, and probably the craziest thing I’ve done in my life" Oliver Solberg

The prospect of winning Monte Carlo really hit home on Saturday night when the crews hit the Monaco Grand Prix circuit for a return of a stage that last featured in the event in 2008. Always the showman Solberg would normally lap up such a stage where flamboyant driving is required and even mandatory donut to delight the fans. But on this occasion a performance was not top of Solberg’s list. "I need to breath now I think. It is a shame to say I didn’t enjoy it. There is too much pressure and too much on the line to enjoy such a special stage with all the rain,” said Solberg.

After four more stages on Sunday, that included a couple of small moments, Solberg and Edmondson could breathe and celebrate knowing they had pulled off a remarkable victory to join the pantheon of greats as Monte Carlo winners, heading a Toyota 1-2-3.

“To win Rally Monte Carlo is an incredible result and a dream come true, and probably the craziest thing I’ve done in my life. I just want to say a big thank you to the team, for their belief in making me a factory driver," said Solberg.

Two Toyota Rally1 starts, two wins for Solberg and Edmondson

Photo by: McKlein Photography / LAT Images via Getty Images

Just how good was Solberg in Monte Carlo?

Toyota team-mate Evans ultimately came closest to Solberg during the Monte Carlo event, finishing 51.8s behind the Swede. The Welshman drove smartly and was among the few to avoid any real moments but was unable to reel in Solberg. A 6.5s Power Stage win over Solberg meant Evans left Monte Carlo with 26 points, only four adrift of his new team-mate in the championship standings.

“I’m pretty happy but of course disappointed to not fight for the win, that was always the target,” the five-time WRC title runner-up said. “In the end it is still good points, and it could have very easily been zero points here with the conditions we’ve had, so it is not all bad.

"He [Oliver] was very good and he made full use of his road position on Thursday and Friday to open up the gap and it has not changed so much since, but you still have to take a hat off to him. Of course you can feel like you can push [more to catch Oliver] but would you have crashed? Probably.

“This has been the worst [Monte Carlo conditions] by quite a stretch I would say. It was really quite bad and what makes it worse is that the tyre is not really suitable for this kind of extreme condition. You can make it work when there is a bit of ice here and there but when you have such extreme conditions and slush it is really not working. It is probably the tyre that needs the most attention I would say.”

It is very rare to see Ogier not fighting for the victory, and the Monte Master was among the most vocal regarding about the snow tyres labelling them “unacceptable”. But by Friday, having opened the road, the reigning nine-time world champion had written off catching Solberg and in the end settled for third.

"We can say that for sure [it was not my weekend]. We kind of expected it before the start when we saw the weather forecast with a lot of snow and being a frontrunner in this condition is very difficult and for a good 50% of the rally we were at the front so it was extra challenging,” said Ogier.

Evans made a solid start to his 2026 campaign, even if he accepted there was no catching Solberg

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“Even after that the conditions remained tricky up to the end and these slushy sections were pretty horrible to drive and I didn’t feel I could take the risk needed to go fast. I like to push when I’m in control but in the conditions you are never really in control. I decided that a podium would be another good result here and that would make me happy enough. I’m happy to be on the podium 15 times in 17 starts, so I think that is pretty amazing and I'm pretty sure it is a record that won’t be the easiest to beat.

“It is an amazing performance from him [Oliver] so hats off to him, he deserves this win and it is nice to have this fresh air in the championship, young and up-and-coming with a lot of motivation and doing a great job straight away. That is the sign of a champion so let's see what the future brings to him. On my side, I’m looking forward to battling another strong contender when I’m here. I always enjoy tight fights against strong competitors.”

Praise from both Loeb and Ogier is about as good as it gets for a young rally driver and the prospect of more Solberg v Ogier - master and apprentice - fights in equal machinery is a mouthwatering possibility.

Two wins from two starts for Toyota in the WRC big time has sent a clear message to the WRC and his rivals. It appears the Japanese brand seems to have chosen incredibly well to fill the seat vacated by two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera.

Can Solberg make it three from three in the snow at Rally Sweden?

Photo by: Hyundai