Petter Solberg World RX of Belgium preview 13.05.2015: Before last year I hadnt competed in Belgium before. I didnt know what Id been missing







Before last year I hadn’t competed in Belgium before. I didn’t know what I’d been missing! As well as this event last season, I also competed at the Rallye du Condroz late last year – and absolutely loved it.





Driving a Citroen C4 WRC, I was leading one of the most specialised rallies in Europe on my first attempt. Unfortunately we had a problem with the car and we couldn’t finish what we started.





There’s a little bit of that feeling from World RX of Belgium, 2014. We came into the final on the back of victory in the semi and everything was looking good. I took the lead and started to push as hard as I could to move ahead of the rest of the guys. Unfortunately a heavy landing on one of the small jumps broke the rear suspension – and, for a moment, it felt like my back as well – but we were just about able to carry on.





With the rear of the car on the floor, it was impossible for me to keep the rest of the pack behind – but I managed it until the final corner. I finished third, but that was the hardest I think I ever worked for the bottom step of the podium. Honestly, my back was finished after that race.





So now I want to come back to the beautiful Mettet track in Wallonia and keep the lead until the finish line – not just the final corner!





I love this circuit. It’s a great track where drivers can really express themselves, lean on the car and push themselves to go harder and harder (although I might not be doing this on all the jumps this time around…). There’s something really special about flying the car in corners and when you have some crests on curves like we do this weekend, you can do that.





Mettet, for that reason, is also a big test for the team to set the car up perfectly, so when it does land there’s no rebound from the suspension; you want a car which sits down and goes flat out as soon as all four wheels are back on track. That’s what we’re working on here at PSRX for this weekend.





We’ve made a good start to the season so far. We’ve laid some solid foundations with the championship lead after round two in Germany, but now we need to build on those. And that’s what this weekend is all about.





As well as PSRX success, I’m also hoping my fellow Monster driver Liam Doran can get a change in fortune in Belgium. Doran was really quick last time out and he deserves a break. Right now the team we share with him is leading the teams’ standings and it would be fantastic to increase that advantage as well.







Circuit Length: 1149m

Max width: 14.5m

Min width: 12m

Tarmac: 61%

Dirt 39%

Website: www.mettetrx.com







Timetable – all local times







Friday May 15



1600 World RX press conference





Saturday May 16



1100 practice

1330 qualifying heats





Sunday May 17



0900 warm up

1030 qualifying heats

1500 semi-final/final

1610 World RX press conference





Last time out…



Petter was winning again. Punted off the Hockenheimring in his opening race, the PSRX weekend got better and better from then on. Petter won his final heat, the semi (despite a puncture) and, of course, the final. Oh and, almost as important, the reigning World Rallycross champ got rid of his cold and extended his lead at the top of the table.







Belgium in numbers:





3 is the number of languages spoken in Belgium: German, French and Dutch



6.4 is the per cent of Belgium’s landmass covered in water



389 mg is how much potassium can be found in seven Brussels Sprouts



390 is how many Brussels Sprouts the PSRX team won’t consume this weekend



400 is the number of years Belgium has been making chocolate



694 is Belgium’s highest point – 134.8m short of the world’s tallest building



2,000 is the number of dedicated chocolate shops in Belgium



12,879 is how many words Petter will say during the race weekend



173,000 tons of chocolate are made in Belgium every year



29,000,000,000 is the turnover in Euros of Antwerp’s diamond businesses







Benjamin de Broqueville-

