Petter Solberg's involvement in motorsport started at an early age. At 11, Petter was helping his father prepare cars for rallycross. Solberg got behind the wheel of a race car in 1992, starting in rallycross and then in hill climb events at the wheel of a Ford Escort. In 1995, Solberg changed his Ford for a Volvo 240, winning the Norwegian Rallycross championship and the national hill climb title as well. He won the title again the following year, with 19 victories out of 21 races.

In September 1996, Petter Solberg participated to his first rally at the wheel of a Celica (that used to be his older brother's). A first race that unfortunately ended with an accident, which caused damage to the Toyota. In 1997, Petter drove another Celica (previously driven by Radstrom) and won another title in the hill climb championship while taking fifth place in the Norwegian rally championship.

The following year Solberg started his first season in the World Rally Championship, still at the wheel of a Celica. He finished his very first race in 14th place in Sweden. He also took part in the RAC but had to retire after going off the road. Petter joined Ford in 1999 at the wheel of an Escort WRC. His career took a positive turn when Ford asked him to replace Thomas Radstrom, who was injured and could not participate in the Safari Rally. Solberg was impressive, finishing fifth for his very first participation in the African race.

Petter was once again in the top 10 at the finish of the Rally of Great Britain. In 2000, Petter Solberg became one of the "major players". Still at Ford, the Norwegian finished 5th at the Safari Rally, 6th in Argentina and 4th in New Zealand. But a violent accident in Finland put an end to his collaboration with Ford. Solberg joined Subaru but the Norwegian went through an unfortunate string of retirements.

Solberg stayed at Subaru for 2001 and got many more good results: 2nd in Greece, 5th in Argentina, 5th in Corsica and 6th in Sweden, which was good enough for tenth place in the championship standings.

In 2002, Petter Solberg won his first rally in the World Championship and finished the season in second position in the standings, just behind Marcus Gronholm, who was dominant that year. Petter Solberg finished on the podium many times throughout the season but had to wait on the very last rally of the year to win his first victory in Great Britain.

Solberg won more rallies in 2003. Petter was first in Cyprus and in Australia before getting his first "asphalt" win at the Tour de Corse. The Norwegian clinched his fourth win of the season in Great Britain, a victory that enabled him to clinch his first World Rally Championship title.

In 2004, Petter put his title on the line and unfortunately lost an exciting battle against Sebastien Loeb. The Subaru driver won five victories and finished in second position in the championship.

Solberg managed three more wins in 2005, once again driving for Subaru. However, the Norwegian had to settle for the battle for second place in the championship against Marcus Gronholm. The two men finished with the same amount of points at the end of the season but Solberg clinched second place in the championship because of his three wins against two for Gronholm.

For 2006, Solberg is once again the leading Subaru driver and the Norwegian’s goal is to win another World Championship title.