The 2025 FIA World Rally Championship kicked off last weekend with the 93rd edition of Rallye Monte-Carlo. While the venerated event is known for its sights, sounds and spectacle, rally organizers would like to keep the show on the designated stage route. Stewards handed WRC2 driver Oliver Solberg a punitive five-minute time penalty for drifting his Toyota GR Yaris around the iconic hairpin of the principality’s F1 street circuit.
Solberg, the son of 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg, drove from the casino podium to the rally base along the same route used for the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. He then surprised the gathered fans by getting loose in his Toyota through the hairpin. The footage quickly went viral on social media and would eventually be used as evidence against him once officials caught wind of what happened. Motorsport.com published an excerpt from the stewards’ decision:
“The Stewards reviewed video evidence. The incident happened on the road section on the way from the final podium in the Principality of Monaco, in the corner ‘Fairmont’.”
“The driver admitted that he was driving sideways in front of spectators. The driver apologised for his lapse, adding that in his opinion he did not create an unsafe situation.”
“The Stewards examined the case in detail and concluded that a potential unsafe situation was created as a turn was approached in a “drifting” mode by the driver of car No. 20 and many people were standing up at that turn.”
“Art. 12.18 of the Supplementary Regulations of 93e Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo stipulates that exhibition driving is strictly forbidden everywhere due to lack of suitable places.”
“The Stewards, therefore, decided that the driver of car No. 20 did not respect the relevant regulations and applied the above-mentioned time penalty.”
I agree with Solberg. His drift was performed relatively safely in a location where people expected there to be rally cars. It likely drew public attention to the commercially struggling championship. Thankfully, the penalty didn’t amount to much as Solberg wasn’t eligible to score points at Rallye Monte Carlo due to the WRC2 class and its convoluted drop-score format.
However, I understand why stewards were forced to penalize him. Rallying is a dangerous form of motorsport, especially for spectators. It would be great if there could be a happy medium where the drivers could show some personality behind the wheel while maintaining a safe atmosphere for fans.
