The Latest Breaking News from Oliver Solberg

The move to limit the impact on the environment has also trickled down to the national rally scene as witnessed at this weekend’s Roger Albert Clark Rally.

WRC2 front runner Oliver Solberg couldn’t resist tackling the 350-mile, five-day, marathon rally that includes some of the UK’s most famous stages in England, Wales and Scotland.

Neuville completed the rally's first loop of gravel stages with a slender 2.0s advantage ahead of overnight leader Rovanpera, who impressed despite starting first on the road.

The Toyota driver reeled off seven consecutive stage wins to turn an overnight 6.9s lead into a commanding 32.1s advantage over Neuville heading into the final day.

The pair elected to participate in last Saturday’s one-day gravel rally to aid their preparation for Rally Estonia’s high-speed stages.

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 north to Umea in 2022.

The rally has prided itself on being one of the WRC’s jewel in the crown events given its difficulty to win. Its unique stages feature a mix of rough gravel and soft sandy roads sprawled across Kenya’s iconic wildlife-filled savannah. amid changeable weather, poses an altogether different challenge for crews.  

Top Performer - Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen

Solberg was leading the second tier WRC2 class by 35.4s when he performed doughnuts at the end of the Lousada super special on Saturday night, held on a bespoke Rallycross circuit in front of thousands of spectators.