Solberg gets Skoda support for WRC3 campaign

The 18-year-old son of 2003 World Rally champion Petter will make his first appearance in a Skoda next month in Sweden, with details of his programme yet to be confirmed.

He will also continue to drive his Volkswagen Polo on selected rallies, having done so in last weekend's Rally Monte Carlo - although he was not registered to score points.

"It's a fantastic honour and a really huge honour for me to drive with the support of Skoda," said Solberg. "I went to the Skoda Motorsport headquarters in Mlada Boleslav already and, wow, what a cool place that is. It was so impressive.

"The main thing for me now is to try to make experience on as many WRC rounds as possible this year. Everybody talks about how much experience you need and how important it is – I saw that for myself in Wales last year and Monte Carlo last weekend.

"These WRC rounds are tougher and longer than anything me and Aaron [Johnston, co-driver] have done before. But I've got to tell you, this year is like a dream for me."

Skoda decided to scrap its works WRC2 team for the 2020 season, after losing last year's WRC2 Pro champion Kalle Rovanpera to the factory Toyota programme.

This year, WRC2 Pro morphed into what is now simply called WRC2 - which is being contested by Hyundai, M-Sport Ford and Citroen - while what was known last year as WRC2 has been rebranded WRC3.