Henning Solberg

Henning Solberg (born 8 January 1973) is a Norwegian rally and rallycross driver.

Solberg is the older brother of the 2003 WRC champion Petter Solberg, the uncle of Oliver Solberg and, through his spouse, 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.

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)

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)

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. 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.

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 his co-driver was Stéphane Prévot. Every time Solberg participated in WRC with a S2000 car he scored points and beat a few WRC drivers.

Go Fast Energy World Rally Team (2012) 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 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 he 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 eighth.

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 SWE12 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 GBRRet NC 0 2000 Henning Solberg Ford Escort WRC MON SWERet KEN PORRet ESP ARG GRE NZL NC 0 Toyota Corolla WRC FINRet CYP FRA ITA AUS GBR14 2001 Henning Solberg Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWERet PORRet ESP ARG CYP GRE KEN FINRet NZL ITA FRA AUS NC 0 Subaru Impreza WRC GBR13 2002 Henning Solberg Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWE13 FRA ESP CYP ARG GRE KEN FINRet GER ITA NZL AUS GBR NC 0 2003 Henning Solberg Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI MON SWERet TUR NZL ARG GRE CYP GER FINRet AUS ITA FRA ESP GBR NC 0 2004 Bozian Racing Peugeot 206 WRC MON SWE6 MEX NZLRet CYPRet GRE TURRet ARG FIN10 GER JPN GBR11 ITARet FRA ESP AUS 19th 3 2005 BP Ford Ford Focus RS WRC 04 MON SWE5 MEX NZL ITA15 CYP4 TUR11 GRERet ARG FIN9 GER GBR10 JPN FRA ESP AUS 14th 9 2006 OMV Peugeot Norway Peugeot 307 WRC MONRet SWE8 MEX5 ESP FRA ARG7 ITARet GRE5 GER FIN4 JPN CYP6 TUR3 AUSRet NZL12 GBR11 8th 25 2007 Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC 06 MON14 SWE4 NOR3 MEX9 POR11 ARG5 ITA4 GRE5 FIN5 GER13 NZL9 ESP10 FRA9 JPN3 IRE16 GBR15 6th 34 2008 Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC 07 MON9 SWE13 ARGRet JOR4 GRE8 TUR5 FIN5 GER7 FRA15 GBRRet 8th 22 Munchi's MEX5 ITA7 NZL9 ESP11 JPNRet 2009 Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC 08 IRE4 NOR4 CYP18 POR5 ARG3 ITA8 GRE14 POL3 FIN30 AUS7 ESP9 GBR5 6th 33 2010 Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC 08 SWE6 MEX6 JOR9 TUR25 NZL7 PORRet FINRet GER37 JPN7 GBR6 8th 45 Ford Fiesta S2000 BUL10 FRA9 ESP8 2011 Stobart M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC SWERet MEX6 POR9 JOR14 ITARet ARGDNS GRE5 FIN7 GER7 AUS14 FRA6 ESP8 GBR3 9th 59 2012 Go Fast Energy Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON13 SWE7 MEXWD PORWD ARG GREWD NZLWD FINWD GER GBR FRA ITA ESP 20th 6 2013 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE8 MEX POR ARG GRE ITA FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR 22nd 4 2014 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE7 MEX POR5 ARG POL9 FIN9 GER AUS FRA ESP GBRRet 11th 26 Adapta Motorsport ITA7 2015 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON11 NC 0 Adapta Motorsport SWE12 MEX POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR 2016 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta RS WRCMON SWE7 MEX ARG9 POR27 ITA7 POL15 GER CHNC FRA ESP GBRWD AUS 12th 14 M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 FIN12 2017 Henning Solberg Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE31 MEX FRA ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER ESP GBR AUS NC 0 2018 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta WRC MON SWE19 MEX FRA ARG POR ITA FIN GER 17th 8 Škoda Fabia R5 TUR6 GBR Toksport World Rally Team ESP17 AUS 2019 Toksport World Rally Team Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE17 MEX FRA ARG CHL POR11 ITA FIN15 GER TUR15 GBRWD ESP AUS NC 0

WRC-2 results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points2016 M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN4 GER CHNC 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 ESP6 AUS 35th 8 2019 Toksport World Rally Team Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE7 MEX FRA ARG CHL POR3 ITA FIN5 GER TUR4 GBRWD ESP AUS 9th 43

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

Division 1* 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 SWE4 BEL GER POL CZE5 15th 30 2010 Henning Solberg Ford Fiesta POR FRA GBR HUN SWE15 FIN BEL GER POL CZE 36th 2

Supercar

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results

Supercar