Team Norway’s father and son pairing of Petter and Oliver Solberg are celebrating after they took a stunning victory in the ROC Nations Cup on the snow and ice of Sweden’s Pite Havsbad, to retain the title they first won last year.
On a sunny afternoon on the frozen Baltic Sea just 60 miles from the Arctic Circle, legends from the world’s biggest motor sport series – including Formula 1, Formula 2, IndyCar, Le Mans, W Series, World Rally, World Rallycross, Nitro Rallycross and X-Games – teamed up in pairs to battle for national and regional pride.
They raced head-to-head on a parallel track featuring ROC’s iconic crossover bridge in a stunning mix of cars. This year’s range of mighty machinery included the electric Cupra UrbanRebel Concept, Zeroid X1 rallycross car powered by QEV and the FC1-X Nitro Rallycross car. The off-road Polaris RZR PRO XP made a welcome return to ROC as did the SuperCar Lites, now powered by 100% fossil-free biofuel.
And what a festival of icy action it was – as FIA World Rally and World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg and his rising WRC star son Oliver Solberg prevailed in the final against the might of Team All Stars: winner of 17 WRC rallies Thierry Neuville and reigning FIA F2 Champion Felipe Drugovich.
In the first heat Neuville saw off the challenge of Petter Solberg before both Oliver and Petter beat Felipe Drugovich, who started the week in the thirty degree heat of his home country Brazil. Oliver then defeated Neuville to take the decisive win, which means Team Norway retain the ROC Nations Cup trophy.
Race Of Champions Draw (Sunday 29 January)
Round 1
- Adrien TAMBAY v David COULTHARD
- Felix ROSENQVIST v Mick SCHUMACHER
Round of 16
- Mika HAKKINEN v Felipe DRUGOVICH
- TAMBAY or COULTHARD v ROSENQVIST or SCHUMACHER
- Valtteri BOTTAS v Tom KRISTENSEN
- Sebastian VETTEL v Jamie CHADWICK
- Sébastien LOEB v Thierry NEUVILLE
- Petter SOLBERG v Oliver SOLBERG
- Johan KRISTOFFERSSON v Tanner FOUST
- Travis PASTRANA v Mattias EKSTRÖM
Source: raceofchampions.com