On only its second FIA World Rally Championship event, two Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 made it onto the WRC2 podium. At Rally Sweden, Oliver Solberg (Sweden) and British co-driver Elliott Edmondson scored the maiden WRC2 victory for the new Rally2 class car from Mladá Boleslav. Finnish duo Sami Pajari/Eni Mälkönen, also of team Toksport WRT, finished third in the category.

A convincing performance from Oliver Solberg in Sweden. The 21 years old son of former FIA World Rally Champion Petter Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson won WRC2 with a margin of 42.3 seconds from Ole Christian Veiby/Torstein Eriksen. Sharing a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 run by team Toksport WRT, Solberg and Edmondson scored the fastest time of the WRC2 field on eight of the rally’s 18 stages.

“It’s fantastic, what a great feeling! It’s been an amazing weekend for both of us – no mistakes and really consistent,“ Solberg beamed at the finish after 302 competitive kilometers.

The Swedish-British duo was already the fastest of the Rally2 class during the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo.

After the snow, ice, and sub-zero temperatures of Sweden, dust, heat and elevations of more than 2,000 meters await the teams at the next round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Guanajuato Rally México (16-19 March 2023) is next on the calendar.

Rally Sweden, 9-12 February 2023, Results WRC2

1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (SWE/GBR), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 2:33:42.6 hours
2 Ole Christian Veiby/Torstein Eriksen (NOR/NOR), VW Polo GTI Rally2 +42.3 seconds
3 Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen (FIN/FIN), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +1:15.1 minutes
4 Georg Linnamäe/James Morgan (EST/GBR), Hyundai i20N Rally2 +2:21.1 minutes
5 Marco Bulacia/Diego Vallejo (BOL/ESP), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +2:41.5 minutes
6 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (FIN/FIN), Hyundai i20N Rally2 +2:48.0 minutes
7 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hämäläinen (FIN/FIN), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +3:01.5 minutes
8 Lauri Joona/Tuukka Shemeikka (FIN/FIN), Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo +3:10.6 minutes