Kevin Eriksson managed to take his second win in four races in RallyX Nordic last weekend in the Tierp Arena, but the OMSE driver was forced to change cars during the second day of racing.
Last Friday in the paddock of the Tierp Arena, Kevin Eriksson did not miss the opportunity to declare his passion for the RallyX championship.
“I’m really enjoying being in the RallyX Nordic paddock,” said the oldest of the Eriksson siblings.
“Everyone is open and we don’t play politics here. You can go from team to team and talk freely with each other. Once the competition is over, and even though we’re not meant to do each other any favors on the track, we can all have a good time together. To me, this is also the reason for this series to exist. A few years ago when I was in the world championship, we had reached a stage where it was difficult to move around in the paddock. Between the rivalries, the politics and the little secrets that everyone was trying to keep, we were at a point where you couldn’t go into the tents and joke freely with your fellow rivals,” said the Swedish driver.
“It is also for all these reasons that RallyX Nordic tries to nurture this good mood and friendly atmosphere in the paddock. That’s what we try to do every year”.
And on Sunday morning ahead of Race 2, the RallyX paddock was busy confirming that Kevin Eriksson’s words were not just a PR exercise.
With a broken engine at the end of the warm-up, the OMSE driver would normally have been forced to retire, but this was without counting on the solidarity of his rivals, who accepted to allow Kevin Eriksson to continue at the wheel of the second Honda Civic, which was theoretically reserved for Oliver Eriksson for the rallysprint event.
A more than winning bet for Kevin Eriksson. The Swede scored two Top 3 finishes in qualifying and finished second in the intermediate standings behind Johan Kristofferson, before taking advantage of Kristofferson’s puncture in the final to claim his second victory of the season and move to within a single point of the five-time world rallycross champion in the overall championship standings.
“It was a bit of a special weekend because after the warm-up I thought my race was over because of our engine problem but luckily the whole paddock was very nice. They all told me: “of course you can take the second car”. It was really fair play from all the teams and all the drivers and I want to thank them for that”.
Having entered the Nysum track at the last minute, the former RallyX Nordic champion is now in a position to compete right to the end in a championship he had not even planned to contest this year.
“Obviously, when you start lining up results, you get into a positive dynamic that makes you want to continue the season,” recalled Kevin Eriksson.
“On the other hand, I was very busy with the organization of this weekend. This motorsport festival was a lot of work. By the way, I had absolutely not planned to participate in this event, but the fact that I was leading the championship after a victory in Nysum were elements that helped to change my mind. I had to be there”.
And if his presence at the upcoming Kouvola event at the end of May was still far from being decided last week, this second victory has totally changed Kevin Eriksson’s plans.
“Even though I haven’t had the chance to drive there since 2014 (in the Supercar Lites – ed.), I’m already looking forward to returning there because it’s such a fun track. Also, there will be a lot of talented Finnish drivers like Jere Kalliokoski while I hope others top contenders will be there for this upcoming round of the calendar”
Once again, RallyX proved all its values in Tierp. If the battles on the track remain of unmatched intensity, the unique atmosphere that reigns in the paddock contributes to make RallyX a championship like no other on the international Rallycross scene.
