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If Rallye Monte-Carlo is motorsport’s equivalent of being slapped with a frozen fish while blindfolded… then Oliver Solberg just smiled, asked for seconds, and won the whole damn thing.
Yes. That Rallye Monte-Carlo. The one with black ice lurking like a tax auditor, mud pretending to be tarmac, snow doing whatever snow feels like doing, and rain for emotional support. And into this chaos rolled a 24-year-old Swede, barely old enough to rent a car in some countries, who proceeded to dominate rallying’s most evil exam paper.
Driving for Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team, Solberg didn’t just win… he humiliated. From Thursday night’s second stage onwards, he parked his Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 at the front and basically said: “Right, you lot can fight over second.” Which they did. Politely. In Toyotas.
Behind him came Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier, giving Toyota a full 1-2-3 podium lockout. That hasn’t happened here since 2015. And Toyota? Never before. Somewhere, a statistics nerd just fainted.
This wasn’t some gentle Monte either. This was Monte on hard mode. Snow, ice, rain, mud… sometimes all on the same corner. There was so little dry asphalt that drivers started greeting it like an old friend. Solberg himself had a proper “oops” moment on Saturday… sliding off the road and into a field like a misplaced tractor. Any normal human would’ve cried. Solberg calmly drove back out… and won the stage. Because why not.
Sunday’s final leg above Monaco dialled the drama to eleven. Col de Turini was iced up like a dodgy bakery window, and Solberg still had a couple of wide moments just to keep the heart rates interesting. But when the dust… snow… slush finally settled, he’d won by 51.8 seconds. Properly won. No footnotes. No excuses.
The history books loved it too. Youngest winner of Rallye Monte-Carlo in the modern era. Younger than Ogier was in 2009. First Solberg… ever… to win Monte. Two wins from two starts in Toyota colours. That’s not a honeymoon phase. That’s a mic drop.
Evans backed it up with second place, a Power Stage win, and a fat points haul. Ogier, the Monte-Carlo landlord with ten previous wins, settled for third and smiled like a man who knows the future has arrived… and it’s quick.
Elsewhere, Takamoto Katsuta battled tyre damage and steering gremlins to finish seventh, while Sami Pajari and Yuki Yamamoto had the sort of Monte weekends that make you stare silently into the Alps and rethink life choices.
So yes… Toyota leave Monte leading both championships. Solberg leaves as the sport’s newest problem. And everyone else?
Better pack warm clothes for Sweden… because winter just found a new king.