While the Junior championship was largely dominated by Finnish drivers, Norway’s Olliver Tveiten Sollie emerged as the “best of the rest”, finishing fourth overall behind the impressive trio formed by Uitto, Ylilammi and Halonen.
The 2023 season was not an easy one for the CrossCar Junior championship drivers. Dominated by a Finnish delegation capable of monopolizing 23 of the 24 podium places at stake, Oliver Tveitten Sollie was the only “non-Finnish” to slow down the implacable assault of the young “Flying Finns” by converting a Top 3 thanks to a second place obtained in Kouvola.
“The strategy I stuck to throughout this 2023 season was simple: manage to qualify every weekend for a final, get off to a good start and try to go for the win. Nevertheless, the Finnish drivers have been so hard to beat this year that a podium finish is already an excellent performance in this Junior Championship,” Oliver points out.
One thing’s for sure: the dominance of the Finnish drivers is unlikely to affect the young Norwegian’s motivation. After all, with two wins in the qualifying heats, Olliver Tveitten Sollie was quite simply the third best performer in the category in this exercise, behind Lauri Halonen (3 wins) and the untouchable Mikael Uitto (18 wins in 26 qualifying heats).
All the more reason for Olliver Tveitten Sollie not to rest on his laurels. In fact, the Norwegian intends to take advantage of the 2024 season to reach a new milestone in his evolution as a driver.
“The plan for 2024 is to return to RallyX in this Junior championship, while I also plan to carry out my first tests in Rally as well as in Folkrace. What’s certain is that I’ll continue to train hard throughout the winter. Whether in terms of fitness or driving, I want to do everything I can to reach a new step in 2024. The aim is clearly to try and get closer to victory.”
