At the beginning of October, in the final round in Sardinia, Oliver Solberg was just two corners away from becoming the first driver to win the World Championship in his first full season.
Saddened and filled with shame, he even apologized to the Swedish people for throwing away the title so close to the finish line.
Now, the worst disappointment has passed.
I still don't quite understand what happened, whether I hit a pothole or some kind of rut that caused me to skid. At the same time, I'm proud of my performance, with three round wins and second place overall, says the 25-year-old.
Born prematurely
That he is now one of the world's top rally drivers is an achievement that has defied medical expectations.
Oliver Solberg was born three months prematurely. For the first two months of his life, he had to lie in an incubator in hospital. At birth, he weighed only 925 grams.
The effects of being born extremely prematurely made a career as an elite athlete seem impossible.
For a long time I was very small physically and was bullied a lot at school. Of course it was tough and difficult. But the support of my family and motorsport helped me deal with the exclusion, he says.
Oliver Solberg comes from a true motorsport family.
His grandfather Per-Inge Walfridsson won European Championship gold in rallycross, his mother Pernilla has won the Norwegian rally championship - and his father Petter has one World Championship title in rally and two in rallycross.
Despite that, Oliver Solberg never felt forced into a life behind the wheel.
Together with, among others, my grandfather's brothers, my uncle and my cousin Pontus Tidemand (also a rally driver), we are the world's largest motorsport family. My parents have never pushed me, but only supported me. They have meant everything to me.
With a Swedish mother and Norwegian father, Oliver Solberg was born in Fredrikstad, Norway. The family then lived in Monaco during his father's professional career before moving to the family farm in the Värmland village of Mitandersfors.
I have always had Swedish citizenship and am proud to compete for the blue and yellow colors. When Sweden and Norway meet in other sports, it varies which country I am in, says Solberg.
World Championship title and marriage
Oliver Solberg has two goals for next year.
First, he wants to win the World Championship title, largely by becoming a little more consistent in his driving. Second, he wants to get married to his English fiancée, Chloe Chambers. He also hopes she will receive a Swedish residence permit.
Her application was rejected by the Migration Board after Brexit, so she has only been allowed to stay in Sweden for a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period. The uncertainty has been difficult, and we have spent a lot of time living with her parents in Portsmouth. But now she has at least been able to go for an interview with the Swedish Migration Board, says Oliver Solberg.
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