CHAPTER 419 Ft. Pernilla Solberg

CHAPTER 419 Ft. Pernilla Solberg

From Gypsy Tales by Jase Macalpine

August 25, 2026 · 2h 17m · Episode 525

About this episode

Jase Macalpine interviews Pernilla Solberg about her journey in rally racing and her influential family.

Jase Macalpine sits down with Pernilla Solberg for Chapter 419 of the Gypsy Tales Podcast to tell the story behind one of rally's most influential families. Pernilla never wanted to be the best female driver. She wanted to be the best driver, period. When one competitor told her that if she ever beat him, he'd put his helmet on the shelf, that's exactly what she did. Pernilla raced against the boys in Sweden throughout the late '90s, met Petter Solberg at Rally GB in 1998, and retired at 28 to raise their son Oliver, now a WRC driver in his own right. Today, she runs the Solberg motorsport operation, serves as President of the FIA World Rally Commission, and holds board seats across five family car companies. In this chapter, Pernilla gets into what it takes to run a rally team, why a Rally1 car can now cost $1.5 million with few buyers lining up, how modern PR is stripping motorsport of its biggest personalities, and why a new WRC owner could be days away from being announced. Plus, the sim racer who beat everyone with a Logitech taped to his kitchen table, the Norwegian Prime Minister who wrote Petter a letter about his swearing, and why Pernilla believes YouTube, not TV, has…

People in this episode

Host: Jase Macalpine

Guest: Pernilla Solberg

Topics covered

Keywords

Sponsors

SOTA Fuel, AG1, BRUNT

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: FIA World Rally Commission

Places: Sweden

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