Winner of the Open 2WD category at the wheel of his surprisingly BMW hybrid-powered Mercedes 190e last year, Viktor Johansson never anticipated that his first season in RallyX would end with a championship title. Nevertheless, it is with an improved weapon that the Swedish driver intends to defend his crown in 2023.
This is certainly part of the charm of the RallyX. With its ultra-liberal regulations, the Open 2WD category has become the temple of extravagance, allowing its drivers to make technical choices that are sometimes unusual. This is notably the case for Viktor Johansson and his Mercedes.
“I had no idea that the title would eventually be mine,” says Viktor.
However, with one win and a total of four podiums, the former Supercar Lites driver managed to beat the odds.
“Last year, our objective was only to develop our hybrid system and to prepare ourselves in the best conditions for the 2023 championship”.
After the first three races without a single podium finish, Viktor Johansson nevertheless found a way to finish the last four rounds of RallyX 2022 in the top three of the class. Fifth overall after Holjes 2, Johansson took control of the overall classification after Kouvola 2 and never relinquished it.
“We had a few bumps at the beginning of the championship with our hybrid system and it took us some time to make the necessary adjustments. Even though I had already been able to race in 2021 with this car in the Swedish championship, having a more powerful engine in 2022 was a complete turnaround in terms of driving.”
“The weight distribution wasn’t the same anymore and it really felt like I was driving a brand new car. So we had a lot of adjustments to make at the beginning of the championship, but I’m proud of the way we were able to handle this challenge by being able to find solutions that allowed us to progress throughout the season.”
This winter, the Älvsbyn driver has worked hard to avoid running into the same problems he experienced at the start of the 2022 season.
“We made quite a few changes to the car. Last year, when the weather was warm, we noticed that our car had a tendency to overheat at the end of the race during the finals. The engine power dropped, so we tried to find solutions to improve our cooling system to avoid temperature peaks in the engine, the controller and the battery,” says Viktor.
” Furthermore, we took care to change our old Volvo M45 gearbox, which had become a real time bomb, while developing our own hydraulic anti-roll bar system. We took care of a lot of little details like the position of our transponder, which we moved forward by ten centimeters. It doesn’t seem like much but it still represents a gain of 0.009s. If all these developments tend to be successful, our 2023 season can only be promising”.
Nevertheless, the 2022 RallyX champion knows that the task will not be easy in the Open 2WD class.
“Again, I expect a lot of drivers to be on the pace this year. You can’t underestimate anyone in this class. Someone can suddenly come out on top and I’m living proof of that because that’s what I managed to do in 2022 by winning the championship. For my part, I intend to do everything I can to give my best. I’m convinced that if we can attack the season in the same way we concluded last year, 2023 should be a particularly productive campaign for us.”
“We have a few strong points to capitalize on with this car. Starting with its chassis balance. However, I think there are still some areas where we can improve, such as our performance on starts. As always, it’s a question of compromise and getting the right balance between our efficiency on starts and our efficiency against the clock on a flying lap.”
