• The Solberg World Cup in association with DirtFish continues to grow with almost 14,000 gamers 

• Solbergs delighted to welcome Pirelli to the championship for round three

• xVZombieSlayaaVx wins Circle K Norge Rally Värmland to lead SWC

• Greece’s Pirelli Rally Argolis is up and running now

 

After a fortnight of competition, the second round of The Solberg World Cup in association with DirtFish has ended with Robin Jonsson (xVZombieSlayaaVx) heading 13,864 fellow gamers through the treacherous winter conditions.

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Fresh out of the first round in Monte Carlo, competitors were greeted by perfect rally roads with plenty of snow and ice lining the super-fast Swedish stages. 
 
After finishing 11th in his Circle K Norge-liveried Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, a result that moves him to eighth in the championship, Oliver said: “I was happy with the performance. Like the first round in Monte, it was really close and tense competition. Maybe I have done more practice in these stages, it’s a little bit natural that you are going to spend longer doing your own home rally. 
 
“I love the conditions in Sweden, Codemasters did such a fantastic job with this event on DiRT Rally 2.0 – it’s amazing. You can push hard, really hard and use the snowbanks. This rally is rewarding you to take the risk and go as bit faster.”
 
Sixth place for SWC round one winner ERT_CRsedmicky kept him right at the sharp end of the standings. He heads – virtually of course – to Greece in second place behind xVZombieSlayaaVx and with team-mate ERT_Jarod third. 
 
The next rally definitely won’t reward risk-taking. From the Scandinavian deep freeze, The Solberg World Cup is heading south, to the hard-baked tracks of central Greece for Pirelli Rally Argolis.
 
Pirelli has always enjoyed a great relationship with the Solberg family, supplying Petter’s factory Subarus and winning the world championship with him in 2003. That association moved to the next generation with Oliver and has now progressed to the virtual world.
 
Pirelli’s head of F1 and racing Mario Isola said: “The Solberg family are huge friends of Pirelli: we’ve got some fantastic memories of Petter’s achievements with us in the past, and we’re looking forward to seeing more of Oliver on the world’s stages in future. 

“Unfortunately, that’s not going to be for a while because of the Covid-19 pandemic. So, in the meantime, we’re delighted to put our name to Greece’s round of the Solberg World Cup – Pirelli Rally Argolis which is online from now until Sunday. 
 
“Petter won the Acropolis Rally with us in Greece in 2004 – but this time the Solbergs will be up against thousands of other competitors virtually, so it’s going to be fun to see how the gamers stack up against the professionals!” 
 
Talking about his chances in Greece, Oliver added: “This one is going to be hard work. We will have to be much more aware to look after the car in these really hot conditions. Papa was saying he thinks we should make everybody turn up the heating or sit in front of the fire to do this one – just to make it more realistic!
 
“Sweden was the rally to attack, this is maybe the one to take a tactical approach and drive more with the head. Let’s see…”
 
Pirelli Rally Argolis is open for competition from today (Monday May 4) and will run until midnight on Sunday May 10. 
 
Follow the latest Solberg World Cup in association with DirtFish updates on Oliver’s social media channels: @oliversolberg01.