This weekend’s Lake Superior Performance Rally marks the end of Oliver’s rookie season in the American Rally Association series. For once, let’s save the words and go with the numbers.
 
0 – is how many rallies Oliver had started in a four-wheel drive car before the start of this season
 
3 – that’s how many rallies Oliver has won in this year’s American Rally Association series.
 
3 (again) – is where Oliver finished in the ARA standings (despite only starting six rallies)
 
6 – is the number of ARA starts Oliver made in 2019. (Did we mention, he won three of them?)
 
6.8 – seconds was the gap between Oliver and the winner of Oliver’s first ever ARA rally. For the record, Oliver lost a minute with a puncture and stopped to put the bonnet down in one stage…
 
9 – that’s how many minutes (almost) Oliver won this weekend’s ARA finale in Michigan by
 
10 – stages won on the 13-stage New England Forest Rally. Oliver was second quickest on SS1 and suffered punctures on the two stages he didn’t win. 
 
17 – that’s how old Oliver was when he made his Subaru Motorsports USA debut at Rally in 100 Acre Wood.
 
48 – fastest times from 75 stages
 
64 – is the percentage of stages wins from Oliver’s rookie ARA season
 
80 – per cent of stages won on the Susquehannock Trial Performance Rally. Oliver won more than 75 per cent of stages on three of the six ARA rounds he started.
 
100 – there had to be a 100, didn’t there… that’s the percentage of rallies Oliver finished in ARA this year.
 
Oliver said: “Like always, it’s fantastic to come to this team and drive Subaru Motorsports USA’s WRX STI. I love this car; it’s got really nice power and it’s so much fun on these roads.
 
“This rally was a cool one for me. The stages were fast, but also tricky in some places. I’m so happy to end the season with a win like this. It’s tough for my team-mate [David] Higgins, he was setting some good times early on. For me, I was really happy with the car and everything went to my plan.
 
“Looking back on the whole season, it went so fast! It feels like it was just yesterday that I was pulling on these famous blue and yellow overalls for the first time in March. When I started, I didn’t know what would be possible. Could we make the podium? I didn’t know. But when we came so close to the win on the first round, I knew I just wanted to push and push until we did it.
 
“We didn’t have to wait so long, winning the [DirtFish] Olympus [Rally] was a really nice one – this is the famous rally in America. After that, I was trying to win all the time. It wasn’t so easy, the roads are so different on every event and I had no experience of any of them.
 
“I think it wasn’t such a bad year, when I came to every rally not knowing where I was going!
 
“The two guys who helped me in the right direction were my co-drivers Denis [Giraudet] and Aaron [Johnston], they have been amazing.
 
“I also have to say a very big thank you to the whole team at Vermont SportsCar and everybody in Subaru Motorsports USA. Those guys gave me the chance to make a dream come true – they gave me the chance to drive a car like my dad’s. Driving for Subaru is so emotional for all my family. This was an unbelievable year.
 
“To come here, to drive a Subaru, it’s been like a dream for me…”



ARA 2019 Championship standings

1st  David Higgins        114 points
2nd Barry McKenna     101 points
3rd Oliver Solberg         97 points*
4th Piotr Fetela             86 points
5th Cameron Steely      71 points

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*started only 6 out of 9 events