Norwegian · Askim, Norway · Born 18 November 1974Norwegian rally and rallycross driver who became World Rally Champion in 2003 and later won two consecutive World Rallycross Championships in 2014-2015.
Petter Solberg was born on 18 November 1974 in Spydeberg, Norway, and made his World Rally Championship debut in 1998, signing with Ford's factory team the following year before beginning a hugely successful partnership with Subaru's World Rally Team in 2000. Solberg, nicknamed "Mr. Hollywood" for his charismatic personality and spectacular, crowd-pleasing driving style, finished runner-up to Marcus Grönholm in 2002 before becoming the first Norwegian ever to win the World Rally Championship in 2003, edging out Sébastien Loeb by a single point in a dramatic three-way title fight that went down to the final round in Wales. Solberg finished runner-up to Loeb in both 2004 and 2005, and won 13 rallies across his WRC career, before transitioning to rallycross, where he became one of the discipline's most dominant competitors, winning back-to-back World Rallycross Championship titles in 2014 and 2015 with his own Petter Solberg World Rally Team. Solberg's son, Oliver, has followed him into professional rallying, winning the 2025 WRC2 championship and claiming his first overall WRC victory that same year, continuing a family legacy in a sport where his father remains one of Scandinavia's most beloved motorsport figures.
2003 WRC Champion, World Rallycross Champion
How They Played
Aggressive driving style, spectacular jumps and slides
Lasting Impact
First Norwegian WRC Champion, successful rallycross career
Career Honours
- WRC Champion 2003
- World Rallycross Champion 2x
- WRC wins 13
Norwegian Athletes