Henning Solberg

Henning Solberg

Solberg at the Rally of New Zealand 2008
Personal information
Nationality Norway Norwegian
Born 8 January 1973
World Rally Championship record
Active years 1998–present
Teams Bozian Racing, Ford, OMV Peugeot Norway, Stobart Ford, Munchi's Ford
Rallies 108
Championships 0
Rally wins 0
Podiums 6
Stage wins 31
Total points 230
First rally 1998 Swedish Rally

Henning Solberg (born 8 January 1973) is a Norwegian rally driver. Together with co-driver Ilka Minor, he currently competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC) with Stobart M-Sport Ford. Solberg is the older brother of the 2003 world champion Petter Solberg and stepfather of Swedish rally driver Pontus Tidemand.

Career

Solberg (Group N Ford Escort RS Cosworth) pictured during the 1995 Austrian Rallycross EC round.
Solberg driving a Peugeot 206 WRC at the 2004 Rally Finland.

Henning Solberg was born in Spydeberg. Like his younger brother Petter, Henning started his career as a driver in bilcross (Norwegian low-budget rallycross similar to Swedish folkrace and Finnish jokamiehenluokka) and rallycross events, and switched completely to rallying in the mid 1990s. Between 1999 and 2003, he became the Norwegian Rally Champion for five years in a row.

After several events as a privateer in the WRC, Solberg got a contract with Bozian Racing for the 2004 season. At his first event with the Peugeot 206 WRC, the 2004 Swedish Rally, Solberg took his first WRC points by driving to sixth place. This remained his best result and only points-finish of the season.

For the 2005 season, Solberg was signed by the BP Ford World Rally Team, Ford's factory WRC team. He competed in seven rounds alongside Ford's main drivers Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta. His best result came at the Cyprus Rally, where he beat team-mates Gardemeister and Kresta to the fourth place. With nine points, Solberg finished 14th in the drivers' world championship.

OMV Peugeot Norway WRT (2006)

Solberg driving Peugeot 307 WRC at 2006 Cyprus Rally

In 2006, Solberg partnered Manfred Stohl at the OMV Peugeot Norway W.R.T., and drove the Peugeot 307 WRC in 12 of the 16 WRC rounds plus the non-WRC event Rally Norway. He achieved his first ever podium finish coming in third in the Rally of Turkey. With six other points-scoring positions to his name, he finished eighth in the drivers' standings. Solberg also appeared in an edition of the BBC show Top Gear, where he rallied a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution in a downhill snow track in a race against the Norwegian bobsleigh team at Lillehammer. The Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track is 1365 meters long with 16 turns and an 8.5% average grade and Solberg's route was equally challenging. With Top Gear presenter James May as his "co-driver," Solberg made it 1:02:24 in the Evo while the bobsled (with presenter Richard Hammond in it) beat Solberg with a time of 59:68.

Stobart Ford (2007–2011)

Solberg at the 2008 Rallye Deutschland.

For 2007, Solberg was given a full-time drive with the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team. He achieved his second podium finish in the World Rally Championship by driving his Ford Focus RS WRC 06 to third place at his home event, the 2007 Rally Norway, when the rally was part of the WRC calendar for the first time. He later took his career third podium finish at the 2007 Rally Japan, and finished sixth in the drivers' championship, ahead of Subaru's Chris Atkinson and his young team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.

Solberg retained his place at the Stobart team for the 2008 season. In Sweden he was on course for a podium finish before a puncture and a crash on the second day put him out of the points. For México Solberg was nominated to score points for the Munchi's team. He achieved a fifth place finish despite suffering two punctures.[1] In the series' first-ever Jordan Rally, he recorded his best result of the season by finishing fourth. After five more points-scoring finishes were followed by five rallies with no points, Solberg finished eighth overall in the drivers' standings. At the 2008 Mountain Rally Norway, the first round in the 2008 Norwegian Rally Championship, Henning took first in his class driving a Ford Fiesta ST N3.[2]

Solberg driving a Ford Focus RS WRC 08 at the 2009 Rally GB.

In 2009, Solberg had his career-best start to the season. He drove his Focus RS WRC 08 to fourth place both in the season-opening Rally Ireland and the following Rally Norway. After a road accident ended his chances in Cyprus, he finished fifth in Portugal and took his career fourth podium place in Argentina, behind the Citroën duo Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo. He achieved another podium in Poland.

In 2010 Solberg was driving Ford Focus RS WRC 08 at first 6 events but at 2010 Rally Bulgaria he drove a Ford Fiesta S2000. At 2010 Rally Finland, 2010 Rallye Deutschland and 2010 Rally Japan he drove Ford Focus RS WRC 08 again. At last two rallies he drove Ford Fiesta S2000. His co-driver is Ilka Minor, but during her injury was his co-driver Stéphane Prévot. Every time Solberg participated in WRC with a S2000 car he scored points and beat a few WRC drivers.

Henning Solberg at 2010 Rally Bulgaria

Go Fast Energy World Rally Team (2012)

Henning Solberg competed for the privateer Go Fast Energy World Rally Team along with Matthew Wilson in the first half of the 2012 season. In Monte Carlo, due to various issues, he finished outside the top ten. Henning could retaliate on the next round in Sweden, finishing in 7th place. After that, the whole Go Fast team disappeared as a whole.

2013-present

Solberg made his return to the WRC on the 2013 World Rally Championship's second round, Rally Sweden, after a one-year hiatus. His co-driver was Emil Axelsson, and used M-Sport's Fiesta RS WRC. The car sported a full white design without any sponsors, although they later put up "Can you watch this space?" stickers to cover the space on the sides and the hood. The pairing finished 8th, after a 4m20s time penalty. Solberg stated in a stage-end interview that he's working to find funds for a programme, but nothing is certain yet.

Results

WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
1998 Shell Norge Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 MON SWE
12		 KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN ITA AUS GBR NC 0
1999 Henning Solberg Ford Escort WRC MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN CHN ITA AUS GBR
Ret		 NC 0
2000 Henning Solberg Ford Escort WRC MON SWE
Ret		 KEN POR
Ret		 ESP ARG GRE NZL NC 0
Toyota Corolla WRC FIN
Ret		 CYP FRA ITA AUS GBR
14
2001 Henning Solberg Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWE
Ret		 POR
Ret		 ESP ARG CYP GRE KEN FIN
Ret		 NZL ITA FRA AUS NC 0
Subaru Impreza WRC GBR
13
2002 Henning Solberg Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWE
13		 FRA ESP CYP ARG GRE KEN FIN
Ret		 GER ITA NZL AUS GBR NC 0
2003 Henning Solberg Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI MON SWE
Ret		 TUR NZL ARG GRE CYP GER FIN
Ret		 AUS ITA FRA ESP GBR NC 0
2004 Bozian Racing Peugeot 206 WRC MON SWE
6		 MEX NZL
Ret		 CYP
Ret		 GRE TUR
Ret		 ARG FIN
10		 GER JPN GBR
11		 ITA
Ret		 FRA ESP AUS 19th 3
2005 BP Ford Ford Focus RS WRC 04 MON SWE
5		 MEX NZL ITA
15		 CYP
4		 TUR
11		 GRE
Ret		 ARG FIN
9		 GER GBR
10		 JPN FRA ESP AUS 14th 9
2006 OMV Peugeot Norway Peugeot 307 WRC MON
Ret		 SWE
8		 MEX
5		 ESP FRA ARG
7		 ITA
Ret		 GRE
5		 GER FIN
4		 JPN CYP
6		 TUR
3		 AUS
Ret		 NZL
12		 GBR
11		 8th 25
2007 Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC 06 MON
14		 SWE
4		 NOR
3		 MEX
9		 POR
11		 ARG
5		 ITA
4		 GRE
5		 FIN
5		 GER
13		 NZL
9		 ESP
10		 FRA
9		 JPN
3		 IRE
16		 GBR
15		 6th 34
2008 Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC 07 MON
9		 SWE
13		 ARG
Ret		 JOR
4		 GRE
8		 TUR
5		 FIN
5		 GER
7		 FRA
15		 GBR
Ret		 8th 22
Munchi's MEX
5		 ITA
7		 NZL
9		 ESP
11		 JPN
Ret
2009 Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC 08 IRE
4		 NOR
4		 CYP
18		 POR
5		 ARG
3		 ITA
8		 GRE
14		 POL
3		 FIN
30		 AUS
7		 ESP
9		 GBR
5 		6th 33
2010 Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC 08 SWE
6		 MEX
6		 JOR
9		 TUR
25		 NZL
7		 POR
Ret		 FIN
Ret		 GER
37		 JPN
7		 GBR
6		 8th 45
Ford Fiesta S2000 BUL
10		 FRA
9		 ESP
8
2011 Stobart M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC SWE
Ret		 MEX
6		 POR
9		 JOR
14		 ITA
Ret		 ARG
DNS		 GRE
5		 FIN
7		 GER
7		 AUS
14		 FRA
6		 ESP
8		 GBR
3		 9th 59
2012 Go Fast Energy Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON
13		 SWE
7		 MEX
WD		 POR
WD		 ARG GRE
WD		 NZL
WD		 FIN
WD		 GER GBR FRA ITA ESP 20th 6
2013 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE
8		 MEX POR ARG GRE ITA FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR 22nd 4
2014 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE
7		 MEX POR
5		 ARG POL
9		 FIN
9		 GER AUS FRA ESP GBR
Ret		 11th 26
Adapta Motorsport ITA
7
2015 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON
11		 NC* 0*
Adapta Motorsport SWE
12		 MEX POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR

* Season in progress.

European Rallycross Championship results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ERX Points
2009 Norway Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta GBR POR FRA HUN AUT SWE
4		 BEL GER POL CZE
5		 15th 30
2010 Norway Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta POR FRA GBR HUN SWE
15		 FIN BEL GER POL CZE 36th 2
2011 Norway Henning Solberg Citroën C4 GBR POR FRA NOR
7		 SWE BEL NED AUT POL CZE 22nd 10
2013 Norway Henning Solberg Motorsport Saab 93 GBR
15 2 + 3		 POR HUN FIN NOR
18		 SWE
4 9 + 4 + 3		 FRA
12 6 + 1		 AUT GER 15th 28

Complete World Rallycross Championship results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 WRX Points
2014 Monster Energy World RX Citroën DS3 POR
 GBR
9		 NOR
5		 FIN
 SWE
13		 BEL
16		 CAN
11		 FRA
24		 GER
15		 ITA
9		 TUR
5		 ARG
15		 10th 70

References

  1. ↑ "autosport.com – WRC News: Loeb clinches third Mexican victory". autosport.com. 2008-03-02.
  2. ↑ WRC: Class glory for Henning., motorsport news, results, features, teams, drivers, updates

External links

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