WRC Flashback: Rally Sweden's Solberg-Gronholm epic, two decades on

The 2025 World Rally Championship campaign stops off in Scandinavia for the snowy stages of Rally Sweden this week, where every fraction of a second can be crucial.

Twenty years ago, that was never more apparent than in one of the event's all-time great tussles, where two men were separated by a split-second measurement on ice.

Cast your mind back to 2005. Chelsea were romping away to a then-record points haul for the Premier League title against Arsenal, their first top-flight crown for a half-century.

But across the North Sea, it was another blue team that triumphed over the reds in the WRC, as Subaru's Petter Solberg overcame Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm in an epic fight.

Many felt lightning could strike twice for the burgeoning Sebastien Loeb and Citreon after he became the first driver from outside Scandinavia to win the event the previous year.

But Solberg was adamant this would not be the case, with the popular Norwegian vowing repeatedly in the lead-up: “It will not happen. It can’t happen twice."

Indeed, his prophecy proved correct, and it would be the Subaru star that seized an emotional victory in what was then considered his home WRC round against his rivals.

Unseasonably mild weather meant the stages were perhaps less capped with snow than in previous years, but the challenge was no less difficult for crews across the weekend.

Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills came out of the blocks quickly to win the first two stages, but dropped back a pair of places on the third after a suspension tweak did not sit right.

That meant that after three stages, only two-tenths of a second separated his Impreza from Gronholm in the Peugeot 307 and Loeb in the Citroen Xsara at the top of the pack.

Solberg briefly snatched the lead back from Gronholm, only to end the opening day 0.2s adrift with Loeb back in third (+10.2s) after a costly mistake on stage four, where the Citroen driver ceded 18 seconds.

The pair's intense fight continued to gain traction as they went up another level on the second day, with Gronholm initially clear before struggles with his Pirelli rubber hurt him.

Solberg seized a short-lived 8.4s advantage before another lead change saw just 1.1 between the pair with the Peugeout back in front between the duelling crews.

Not to be denied victory, the former responded in style to end the day with a 12.6s lead over Gronholm, while power struggles left an ailing Loeb off the pace behind in third.

Solberg admitted victory was "still [a] dream to him", but he turned it into reality on the final day after a dramatic battle ended his rival's challenge for the leadership on Stage 16.

Facing a 13-second deficit, Gronholm cracked in his pursuit and rolled his 307, damaging the front-left suspension to effectively signal the end of his aspirations for the race.

The Finn managed to keep going for a while after, and held up an angry Solberg who had caught his wounded foe, before he eventually called it a day on the side of the road.

It meant the latter could cruise to one of his finest WRC wins, taking the spoils by 2m11.1s from Gronholm's team-mate Mark Martin, while Ford's Toni Gardemeister netted third.

The podium finish was enough to move the fellow Finn into the championship lead, as both took advantage of Loeb's demise too once his Citroen engine gave up the ghost.

“It is incredible," an overjoyed Solberg said in the aftermath, who in his in-car celebrations accidentally ripped up part of Mill’s pacenotes. "It has been a big dream for me."

Fast forward to 2025 and the WRC makes its annual trip to Sweden with the outcome of round two highly likely to be decided by mere seconds once again.

The Solberg-Gronholm battle may be consigned to the history books but one half of that dynasty has continued with Petter’s son Oliver Solberg.

The Swedish racer is now eyeing up a three-peat in the WRC’s second tier WRC2 class on home soil after his previous success in the event too.