Petter Solberg takes 'Historic' win in Sweden
Former World Rally Champion Petter Solberg has taken the victory today on the Rally Sweden Historic event.
Solberg, who was co-driven by his wife Pernilla, eventually finished the event 1 minute 49.9 seconds up on his closest rival, Erik Johansson. The Norwegian drove a Ford Escort Mk2, built by Viking Motorsport, the company ran by Phil Mills, who of course won the world title alongside Petter in 2003.
"To take part in such a challenging rally is great fun and winning, well, that is just the 'icing on the cake'," the former Crash.net columnist told the official Rally Sweden website. "I had a few minor problems on the first stages but after that, it was just plain sailing."
The Rally Sweden Historic event started with exhibition driving in Karlstad on Thursday, before a run through the Vargasen test and the superspecial at Farjestadstravet on Friday. The main competition however, was today, with competitors tackling two loops of Sagen, Frederiksberg, Rammen and the Hagfors Sprint - starting each of the stages after the main WRC field had passed through. In total the Historic event comprised 84 competitive kilometres.
Writing on Facebook, 'Hollywood' added: "It's been a great couple of days out here. Pernilla and I fought back today and took the overall Historics victory by almost two minutes! Great conditions, so many fans, and my Viking Motorsports MkII Escort ran like a banshee with only a slight gearbox problem.
"My man Phil Mills had continually told me to shift at 9400 rpm, but I kept ringing her out to 10,400 rpm! The car just revs and revs. It's an unbelievable machine, and I bought it to use it! Thanks again everyone.
"We'll have some celebration tonight, then it's back to concentrating on our [Citroen] DS3 build, and our shift to Rallycross. See you all soon."
Solberg's Swedish outing is expected to be his only rally of the year as he was sadly unable to secure a seat this season in the FIA World Rally Championship. 'Hollywood' announced his plans to return to his roots and do Rallycross in 2013 last week.
