Toyota's new signing Oliver Solberg will drive a GR Yaris Rally1 car on asphalt for the first time this week as he steps up his preparations for the 2026 World Rally Championship.
A week on from Rally Saudi Arabia, where Solberg concluded a 2025 campaign that yielded a WRC2 title and a maiden outright WRC victory at Rally Estonia, the Swedish rally ace and co-driver Elliott Edmondson are back in action at Rallye National Hivernal du Devoluy in France.
The outing will be the first time Solberg has driven a GR Yaris Rally1 in competition since being announced as Toyota’s replacement for Kalle Rovanpera in its new-look 2026 WRC Rally1 driver line-up.
The rally comprising 137.47 competitive kilometres, spread across 10 special stages, begins on Saturday and will provide an ideal opportunity to learn how the GR Yaris Rally performs on asphalt before January’s Monte Carlo season opener. Solberg is set to run under #99, the same number he used to win Rally Estonia in July.
“I think it is really good. It will be a bit of a shakedown, but at least I think it will be good preparation – otherwise you have only a one-day test [before Monte Carlo] and it is not so much you can learn if the conditions are different in the rally and things like that,” Solberg told Autosport.
“I think it is good to have this rally as it will be in mixed conditions, so we can test a lot of things and tyres, etcetera.”
Speaking at the launch of Toyota’s driver line-up in Japan last month, Solberg admitted that he still had a lot to learn, and driving on asphalt is among the key areas. His last Rally1 experience on tarmac came back in 2022 when he drove a Hyundai i20 N Rally1 to fourth at Ypres Rally Belgium.
“It is the first time doing WRC full-time and for sure there is a lot to learn. There will be mixed expectations during the year,” he said.
“I think there is still a lot of experience on tarmac, which I can learn through different rallies which the other guys have done, where I’m still behind a little bit. Of course, there are many rallies which I can do well, and that is the goal."
Solberg isn't the only Rally1 car in the field this weekend, with the Swede joined by Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux, who will also begin preparations for the new season, piloting an i20 N Rally1 car. The Frenchman ended his first season with the Korean brand last week with a run to second at Rally Saudi Arabia behind team-mate Thierry Neuville.
The field will also include former Hyundai WRC factory driver and two-time European rally champion Hayden Paddon, who is entered to drive a Hyundai i20 N Rally2 car.
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