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Oliver Solberg was just meters away from being crowned the 2026 World Rally Championship (WRC) champion at the climax of a dramatic Rally Italia Sardegna.
The Swede needed to score just one point more than teammate Elfyn Evans on the Power Stage to clinch the title 23 years after his father, Petter. He was setting a strong enough pace to do so, but with only two corners remaining in the season finale, the commentator's curse struck.
Mike Chen, one of the lead commentators on the WRC's official streaming platform RallyTV, had just declared: "You are looking at the 2026 World Rally Champion," and seconds later, Solberg went off the road. "Oh no, he's gone off just two corners from the end!" exclaimed Chen.
Following the off-road excursion, Solberg rejoined the stage and crossed the finish line to win the season finale, but ultimately fell five points short of Evans in the final championship standings.
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