After last weekend’s conversion of his second qualification for a final this season in the Junior CrossCar category, the driver from Varmland intends to finish this 2023 campaign on a high note.
Seventh in the overall standings before Höljes, Hampus Hagstrom made a strong impression last weekend in Norway.
After finishing third in the intermediate classification at Grenland (Hampus’ best result to date having been eighth at Nysum 1 and Kouvola 2), he took advantage of his visit to Norway to finish in the top five on four consecutive occasions.
This is an unprecedented level of consistency for the young Hagström, whose best qualifying result was second fastest in Q2 at Nysum 1 and fourth fastest in Q2 at Kouvola 1.
It’s fair to say that the swede is determined to make the most of this final stretch of the 2023 season to showcase his full potential.
“I had a great start to the race at Grenland, while maintaining a good pace during my qualifications,” stresses Hampus.
“I felt good on this track and my feeling was very good. Obviously, when you finish third in the intermediate classification, there’s always a bit of pressure when you get to the start of the semi-finals. Nevertheless, I told myself that I had no right to let this opportunity pass me by at this stage of the weekend. I had to push as hard as I could to get this second qualification for a final”.
A mission that Hampus was able to complete without any problems. Nevertheless, the young Swede is aware that he could have achieved a much better result than his fourth place finish in the final.
“Unfortunately, I made a false start in the final. These things happen and will help me to keep improving. Nevertheless, despite this mistake, it didn’t stop me from attacking as hard as I could. In fact, if it hadn’t been for that false start, I’m pretty sure that the second step of the podium would have been within my grasp”.
Enough to give him some ideas for the final round of the season in Höljes.
“The ideal thing this weekend would really be to be able to finish qualifying in the top 3 of the intermediate classification in order to get a good starting position for the semi-finals. If I can do that, I know my life will be a lot easier afterwards. What’s certain is that my objective for this weekend is clearly to finish on the podium. I know how hard the Finnish drivers are to beat in this category, but I’m going to do everything I can to achieve it.”
