Henning Solberg

Henning Solberg (born 8 January 1973) is a Norwegian rally and rallycross driver. Together with his female co-driver Ilka Minor, he currently competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC) with cars of M-Sport.

Henning Solberg

Solberg at the Rally of New Zealand 2008
Personal information
Nationality	Norwegian
Born	(1973-01-08) 8 January 1973 Askim, Norway
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1998–2019
Teams	Bozian Racing, Ford, OMV Peugeot Norway, Stobart Ford, Munchi's Ford, Adapta Motorsport
Rallies	133
Championships	0
Rally wins	0
Podiums	6
Stage wins	33
Total points	288
First rally	1998 Swedish Rally
Last rally	2019 Rally Turkey
FIA ERX Supercar Championship career
Debut season	2011
Current team	Eklund Motorsport
Car number	73
Former teams	LD Motorsports Ford Team RS Sweden Henning Solberg Motorsport
Starts	12
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Best finish	2nd in 2014
FIA World Rallycross Championship
Years active	2014–2015
Former teams	Olsbergs MSE CircleX Monster Energy World RX Eklund Motorsport
Starts	14
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Best finish	10th in 2014

Solberg is the older brother of the 2003 FIA World Rally Champion Petter Solberg and through his Swedish spouse Maud the 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 Askim, but grew up 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.

Racing record

Complete 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
2016	Henning Solberg	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	MON	SWE 7	MEX	ARG 9	POR 27	ITA 7	POL 15		GER	CHN C	FRA	ESP	GBR WD	AUS			12th	14
	M-Sport	Ford Fiesta R5								FIN 12
2017	Henning Solberg	Škoda Fabia R5	MON	SWE 31	MEX	FRA	ARG	POR	ITA	POL	FIN	GER	ESP	GBR	AUS				NC	0
2018	Henning Solberg	Ford Fiesta WRC	MON	SWE 19	MEX	FRA	ARG	POR	ITA	FIN	GER								17th	8
		Škoda Fabia R5										TUR 6	GBR
	Toksport World Rally Team													ESP 17	AUS
2019	Toksport World Rally Team	Škoda Fabia R5	MON	SWE 17	MEX	FRA	ARG	CHL	POR 11	ITA	FIN 15	GER	TUR 15	GBR WD	ESP	AUS C			NC	0

WRC-2 results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	WDC	Points
2016	M-Sport	Ford Fiesta R5	MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	POR	ITA	POL	FIN 4	GER	CHN C	FRA	ESP	GBR	AUS	28th	12
2018	Toksport World Rally Team	Škoda Fabia R5	MON	SWE	MEX	FRA	ARG	POR	ITA	FIN	GER	TUR	GBR	ESP 6	AUS		35th	8
2019	Toksport World Rally Team	Škoda Fabia R5	MON	SWE 7	MEX	FRA	ARG	CHL	POR 3	ITA	FIN 5	GER	TUR 4	GBR WD	ESP	AUS C	9th	43

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

Division 1^*

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	ERX	Points
1994	Henning Solberg	Nissan Sunny GTI-R	AUT	POR	FRA	IRE	GBR	SWE	FIN	BEL	NED	NOR 10	GER		28th	7
1995	Henning Solberg	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	AUT 2	POR NC	FRA NC	SWE 8	GBR 12	IRE 6	BEL (NC)	NED	NOR 13	FIN 11	CZE	GER	12th	52

^* Division 1 was rebranded as Division 2 in 1997.

Division 1

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	ERX	Points
2009	Ford Team RS Sweden	Ford Fiesta	GBR	POR	FRA	HUN	AUT	SWE 4	BEL	GER	POL	CZE 5	15th	30
2010	Henning Solberg	Ford Fiesta	POR	FRA	GBR	HUN	SWE 15	FIN	BEL	GER	POL	CZE	36th	2

Supercar

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	ERX	Points
2011	Henning Solberg Motorsport	Citroën C4	GBR	POR	FRA	NOR 7	SWE	BEL	NED	AUT	POL	CZE	22nd	10
2013	Henning Solberg Motorsport	Saab 9-3	GBR 15	POR	HUN	FIN	NOR 18	SWE 4	FRA 12	AUT	GER		15th	28
2014	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3	GBR 5	NOR 4	BEL 7								2nd	56
	LD Motorsports	Citroën DS3				GER 10	ITA 3
2017	Eklund Motorsport	Volkswagen Beetle	BAR 6	NOR 12	SWE 14	FRA	LAT						14th	23

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results

Supercar

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WRX	Points
2014	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3	POR	GBR 9	NOR 5	FIN	SWE 13	BEL 15								10th	70
	Monster Energy World RX	Citroën DS3							CAN 11	FRA 24	GER 15	ITA 9	TUR 5	ARG 15
2015	CircleX	Ford Focus	POR	HOC	BEL	GBR	GER	SWE 33	CAN							25th	12
	Olsbergs MSE	Ford Fiesta ST								NOR 13	FRA
	Eklund Motorsport	Volkswagen Beetle										BAR 14	TUR	ITA 15	ARG

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

• WRC Archive stat page
• Results at ewrc-results.com
• Henning Solberg at the Stobart Motorsport