Although Peter Hedström returned to competition last weekend at the wheel of a VW Polo during the final RallyX round in Höljes, the Hedström Motorsport boss is already focused on 2024.
Indeed, while Peter Hedström has decided to sell the Hyundai i20 with which he won at Nysum at the beginning of the season, the Swedish driver has gone back to his good habits by entering a VW Polo in Värmland.
“We’ve already sold all our VW Polo cars, and the one I drove in Höljes is the last one we have in our workshops,” Peter points out.
Ahead of the last week-end of the year, Peter Hedström and Oliver Solberg have been working hard at Arvika to get the VW Polo back on track. Nevertheless, the Hedström Motorsport boss quickly opted to return to a more conventional approach, as the Höljes layout remains so specific.
“We worked with Oliver Solberg on the Thursday before the race in Arvika to find the right settings for the VW Polo. We tested different set-up configurations with the suspensions, which proved to be very effective, but as early as free practice we realized that what worked in Arvika didn’t necessarily work in Höljes. So we went back to the settings we had in 2019 when I was competing at the top end of the European Championship with this VW Polo, and that’s how we’ve been able to regain our efficiency.”
Fifth in the intermediate classification, Peter Hedström came close to a qualification for a final, but contact on the first corner of the semi-final with Kevin Eriksson’s Honda Civic would result in disqualification.
“It’s been over a year and a half since this VW Polo was last used in Rallycross, but I’m pretty happy with my performance and the way the car is handling,” continues Peter.
“Obviously, in terms of driving, it’s nothing like the Hyundai, which is extremely easy to use. With the Polo, you have to show a lot more commitment while adopting a typical “Rally” driving style. After free practice, we had to be 1.8s off the best lap, but by the end of Q2, we were only 8 tenths off, although we had to deal with some minor gearbox problems which we were able to fix for the second day of racing”.
“We succeeded in our mission. Our aim in Höljes was to highlight the potential of this VW Polo. The idea is to put it on sale this autumn so that we can look ahead as quickly as possible to 2024 with the purchase of two new Supercars which will be entirely identical. For the moment, nothing has been decided yet, but we’re working on it”
