The rare feat Solberg could achieve at Rally Finland

Oliver Solberg lit up the World Rally Championship after scoring a sensational maiden win in Estonia, but now the focus is back on a bid for the second tier WRC2 title in Finland this week.

Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson have barely had the chance for their stunning maiden WRC victory win against rallying’s elite, on debut for the factory Toyota Rally1 squad, to sink in, before readjusting their sights on the primary goal for 2025.

It will be strange feeling for the Swede to step back to his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car after achieving the highest of highs in the top class only two weeks ago, but the main target this season is to win the WRC2 title.

Toyota GR

Solberg came close to achieving the goal last year, only for Sami Pajari, Toyota’s new Rally1 recruit for 2025, to deny him the crown by three points.

This season, Solberg is leading the WRC2 standings by three points over Citroen rival Yohan Rossel after taking three wins from four starts to date. The pair are set to go head-to-head in Finland while a host of Finnish and Estonian talent, including, 2022 WRC2 champion Emil Lindholm, 18-time WRC winner Jari-Matti Latvala and Estonian WRC2 victor Robert Virves, will be expected to join the battle for victory.

“Like always, the fight will be big in Finland, there are a lot of really strong crews in Rally2 and we need to be ready for them. And, of course, we always see a lot of very fast local drivers coming – this is something which hasn’t changed down the years,” said Solberg.

Solberg won the WRC2 class in Finland last year finishing the rally in fifth outright. Should the 23-year-old repeat victory this year, he will become the first driver in the modern era to win in the top class and the second tier in back-to-back events.

“As you can imagine, it took me a moment to come down from what Elliott and me achieved in Estonia just last week. We’re so grateful to everybody who made that happen, everybody in the TGR World Rally Team," Solberg added.

“That was something incredible, but that’s done now. We are looking forward and that means getting back to the fight to keep Toyota at the top in WRC2. It would be an incredible result for the GR Yaris Rally2 to win back-to-back WRC2 titles in its first two years, that’s what we’re aiming for.”

The first of Rally Finland’s 20 smooth gravel stages will commence on Thursday night.

Watch WRC on DAZN

The 2025 World Rally Championship is available through DAZN on its own dedicated app channel,  Rally TV. It is available either as a dedicated Rally TV subscription, or as part of your existing DAZN subscription for a small add-on fee.

DAZN is the home of Rally TV worldwide, excluding Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, China, Hong Kong and Japan.

Rally TV also broadcasts every rally from the European Rally Championship.

Watch every WRC and ERC rally this year on DAZN's 24-hour dedicated Rally TV channel. For more information on prices, subscriptions and more, click here.