Remote:Service’s regular readers should know by now that whenever there is a post about Petter Solberg, what follows is a celebration of his loveliness.
So here you go!
In the days when he used to smile all the time, how I miss those days
Ok, so this isn't my definition of "hot stuff" but it makes me chuckle - Petter enjoying the Jordanian way of life
The plot thickens on this story and I’m still not sure what to believe.
Earlier this week I wrote this post.
Unconfirmed reports from a Norwegian newspaper (see here) were stating that Petter had contracted Legionella during Rally Cyprus.
The funny thing is no one else was reporting it, no not even the WRC website.
Yeah, I was a bit confused too.
Well another Norwegian site is now reporting that Petter’s condition is improving, he’s had treatment and will be competiting in Rally Argentina next weekend.
Oh well, at least we know he’s better, sort of and hopefully the man himself will be able to shed some light himself on what’s been going on come next weekend.
Anyhoo, he was testing an Abarth S2000 last week so things can’t be that dire.
I’m not sure what’s going on with this story but it seems that Hollywood’s a bit ill.
A few weeks ago I came across this on the WRC website.
I just assumed that he’d caught a bug in Cyprus or just been pushing himself too hard and thought nothing else of it.
But I was doing my usual look on RallyForum and came across this news story from a Norwegian newspaper.
Now I’m not sure what to make of this and I’ve done loads of searching for similar news stories but haven’t found any telling the same story, even wrc.com and crash.net haven’t picked up on it so I don’t really know what’s going on.
All I can say is how determined is this guy if he was ill during Rally Portugal but still managed to get fourth place???
We’re all thinking of you Petter and Remote:Service is wishing you a speedy recovery.
Championship standings
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Total | ||
| 1. |  S. LOEB |
10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 40 | ||||||||
| 2. |  M. HIRVONEN |
6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 30 | ||||||||
| 3. |  D. SORDO |
8 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 23 | ||||||||
| 4. |  P. SOLBERG |
- | 3 | 6 | 5 | 14 | ||||||||
| 5. | H. SOLBERG |
5 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 14 | ||||||||
| 6. |  M. WILSON |
2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | |||||||||
| 7. | J-M LATVALA |
0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| 8. |  C. ATKINSON |
4 | - | - | 4 | |||||||||
| 9. |  F. VILLAGRA |
- | - | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
| 10. | S. OGIER |
3 | 0 | R | 3 |
…. or for anyone who needs cheering up after this post and this post – they were a bit depressing to be fair.
I looked back over my closing comments today and thought ‘man, that was a bit harsh of me’. So I dug out some pics of Petter that make me smile, back in happier times when he knew how to smile himself.
I much prefer the chiseled cheekbones to the Michelin man-like look that Loeb pulls off so effortlessly.
NB Yes Petter is a bit hyperactive but believe it or not he has very gentle hands, he’s very gentle when he gives you a hug the sensitive soul that he is.
A bit hot Petter?? Cooling down during the Acropolis 2003
Those chiseled cheekbones are on display, good times
This is the Petter we know......
....and this
….or then again maybe not, seems like I’m his only fan these days….bring out the violins.
My earlier post got me thinking about the days when Petter was the number one guy in the service park.
My mum, being the Sebastien Loeb obssesse in the family always put Petter down and I know for a fact that she’ll deny it but it’s true. One thing she always tried to imply was that the whole fan friendly image was apparently only for the cameras.
Well I beg to disagree.
I have met Mr Solberg on more than one occassion, three times in one day in fact at Rally Catalunya 2004. Firstly at Shakedown I waited and waited for an autograph, each time Petter got out of the car he apologised for not being able to come over, promising to come back later.
Eventually Petter came running over and dancing as if with ants in his pants he said “I’m so sorry I’ll be back in a minute, I really need a wee!” before running off behind the Pirelli van, doing his business and running back over to me while still zipping up his flies!
Not only did I get an autograph, I got a lovely cuddle to go with it.
Later in the day while parked up on a road section (parents were arguing over rally road maps) and Seb sped past. Knowing that Petter would be quick behind I got out the Norweigan and Welsh flags. I didn’t just get a wave, no, I got a manic wave, a Subaru weaving down the middle of the road, flashing of the lights and crazed beeping of the horn! It was great, I was the only one there!
Finally after the ceremonial start myself and my brother waited outside Parc Ferme and Petter walked past and I got a wink and a smile and my brother got an autograph and a shake of the hand. There were no cameras and very few other fans present so you can hardly say the guy was playing up to make himself look good.
It was the perfect end to the perfect day.
Well, there’s an argument going on over on rallyforum.
Apparently there aren’t any charismatic drivers in the WRC any more and there haven’t been since the likes of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae.
I think these people need to take a minute to look in the dictionary, this is what they’ll find.
cha·ris·ma
a. A rare personal quality attributed to leaders who arouse fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm.
b. The quality or power of an individual to attract, influence, or inspire people [Greek kharis grace, favour]
I don’t like to admit it as I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of Colin but he did attract a hell of a lot of fans, but what about Petter????
I know his days of winning are long gone and almost forgotten but when he was at the height of his success the crowds around the Subaru service area were wonders to behold. You had to be there at least 2 hours before the car came in to service even to be in with a chance of getting an autograph.
I think he had that ‘rare personal quality’. The jumping around, screaming and shouting and pure excited passion commanded the devotion of thousands of people (or maybe just thousands of crazy Norwegians).
Perhaps though, could it be that it isn’t charisma rallying is lacking and this void is down to a distinct lack of head to head fights. It was the old ‘fueds’ that made for fantastic interviews where drivers experessed real fight.
Where are the likes of Burns v McRae, Makinen v the rest of the world???
You certainly don’t get what those guys had with Loeb and Hirvonen.
Dare I say it but perhaps we need a bit of the Bernie Eccleston magic to inject a bit of excitement back into the WRC……
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