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Petter Solberg is the world's coolest dad

WRC champion lets his 15-year-old son loose in his 447kW Citroen

Oliver Solberg Citroen DS3 main
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Remember the excitement of the first time your mum or dad threw you the keys to their car?

The thrill of driving something a bit flasher than normal mixed with the terror of having to explain yourself should anything go wrong. Now imagine you're just 15 years old and that that car is a 447kW Citroen DS3 capable of hitting 100km/h in just two seconds.

Oh, and it's a car your dad has won two world championships in, so it has a fair bit of sentimental value. This is not a normal scenario, but then the Solbergs aren't your normal family.

Petter Solberg is the 2003 WRC champion and 2014-15 World RallyX champion, so it's possibly not surprising that his son would be an early convert to motorsport. Oliver has acquitted himself well in Cross Kart competitions and will shortly make his debut in Norwegian RallyX.

To help get his eye in, Petter let Oliver loose in his Citroen DS3 supercar, which has now been retired with Solberg Snr switching to a factory-backed VW Polo for the 2017 season. Oliver seemed unperturbed, throwing the DS3 like a veteran.

Oliver Solberg is one of a number of Scandinavian child prodigies appearing on the rallying scene at the moment. Oliver's cousin Oscar, son of Petter's fellow WRC-driving brother Henning, is competing in the British Rally Championship this year, while 16-year-old whizkid Kalle Rovanpera, son of former WRC factory driver Harri, is being fast-tracked into the WRC, despite not currently being old enough to hold a civil driving licence.

Scott Newman
Contributor

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