Petter Solberg commits to full European Rallycross season

The 2003 World Rally champion announced last month that he would focus on rallycross this season, but had initially only committed to the opening round at Lydden Hill as well as the Norwegian and Swedish events.

Solberg confirmed on Friday that he will compete on all nine rounds.

"I don't do things by half," said Solberg. "When I thought about it, I knew the RX Championship was the one for me.

"It's going to be one hell of a show this season and I want my team to be part of that."

The IMG-promoted series, known as the RX Championship, is being launched in Britain on Friday.

Solberg is not present at the launch, but the Norwegian star, who drove a factory Ford in last year's WRC, says the European title is his main focus for this season.

"I'm really sorry that I can't be at the launch," said Solberg, "but I am working pretty much every hour to get everything sorted out.

"Everything is looking really exciting right now. It's fantastic to be back with my own team again.

"The car is really coming together and, to be honest, I really can't wait to get behind the wheel.

"Having spent the last 15 years driving with 300 horsepower, having twice that power is something which really makes me smile."

IMG's announcement that it will run live television from five of the nine RX Championship rounds - including all three Nordic rounds - helped sway Solberg back to rallycross, the discipline he started competing in.

"Those [IMG] guys know how to make the show," he said.

"We have five rounds of this year's championship being shown live on television. And when three of those five live rounds are in Norway, Sweden and Finland it makes complete sense for me to be competing here."