….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.
