Oliver Sollie will be among the favorites for the CrossCar Junior title this year, but the 13-year-old Norwegian is using the off-season to brush up on his skills and consider his mid-term future in the world of rallycross and motorsport.
Fourth overall in the 2023 RallyX championship, with one podium and six qualifications for a final to his credit, Oliver Sollie also made the most of last season to reach another milestone in his development.
Consistent in qualification, the Speedcar driver managed to finish in the top 6 of the intermediate standings seven times, while also achieving the fourth-best overall score in the category with 96 points from the qualifying rounds.
“I’ve learnt a lot in 2023, but I think the area where I’ve progressed the most is my ability to take the stopwatch into account, whereas I was used to a sporting format where everything came down to placing,” Oliver points out.
The key to success in rallycross, performance on the starting grid, also plays an important role in the junior category. A topic that the young Norwegian does not want to ignore.
“Not only are starts very important in our class, but you have to do everything you can to get them right, because they’re the best way to avoid trouble when you enter the first corner. That’s why I’m working very hard on my reaction times. I’m also supported by the RX Evolution team. We use a lot of video and on-board cameras to try and optimize our lines, while we analyse all our set-up books to try and find the best formula from a technical point of view”
Pushed into the limelight by a certain Mattias Ekstrom in 2022, when the former World Rallycross Champion offered young Oliver Sollie the chance to take the wheel of his Audi S1, the Norwegian has always stood out for his ease in front of the cameras.
“I think I made further progress in this area last season. I feel that I know how to deal with the media better. As the TV coverage of this championship is excellent, RallyX is also a very good school for young drivers like me, who are chasing very big dreams, to get to grips with the habits and customs of communication”.
Indeed, while Oliver Sollie makes no secret of his ambitions, he’s not about to close any doors in terms of career development.
“I will be 14 next August, when the final round of the RallyX championship will take place in Germany. Theoretically, I still have two more years to compete in the junior category, but I don’t really know what’s next for me. We’ve got some ideas, but there’s nothing concrete yet.”
For now, Oliver is making the most of the current off-season to familiarize himself with driving a real race car.
“I’ve been preparing with a Ford Fiesta ST rally car for a couple of months now and I’m using it for testing in Norway. Whether it’s rally or rallycross, these are two disciplines that interest me a lot. It’s important to follow your dreams and at the moment I’m trying to do everything I can to make them come true”.
“However, I’m still young, so I’m keeping my options open. I’m not closing the door on rallying any more than I’m closing the door on rallycross. As always in motorsport, everything will depend on the budgets we are able to put together. Apart from my RallyX program, the most important thing for me is to try out as many different cars as possible and that’s what we’re working on with our RX Evolution team. In fact, I’d be very interested in testing a Supercar Lites or FC2. If the opportunity presents itself in 2024, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.”
