Leader of the CrossCar category since the Finnish round of Kouvola, Sebastian Enholm withstood the pressure from Elias Svensson and Thomas Eek Murstad to the very end.
Already a three-time winner in the Swedish CrossCar Championship, and last year’s European Division champion in Nitro Rallycross, Sebastian Enholm took advantage of his stopover in Holjes to add to his record of achievements.
With one victory and a total of four podiums, the Fjugesta based driver had to face the onslaught of Elias Svensson and Thomas Eek Murstad towards the end of the championship. Indeed, in the last two stages of the season, Svensson and Eek Murstad collected 47 and 46 points respectively, while Enholm settled for a total of 43.
Elias Svensson was impeccably efficient in the final two races of the year, and came very close to pulling off the perfect heist in the CrossCar category.
Able to win back-to-back intermediate classifications in Grenland and Höljes, Svensson set the equivalent of four fastest times in the last eight qualifying rounds of the season.
Winner of the Grenland stage with the maximum score of 30 points, the Casmat driver thought he had done the hard part in Holjes by reducing his deficit on Enholm from five to one point just after the qualifications last weekend. Unfortunately, a puncture while Svensson was leading his semi-final decided otherwise.
Thomas Eek Murstad, for his part, did not hesitate to throw everything he had into the battle. Two points behind Enholm before Holjes, the Norwegian got off to a poor start in Varmland, posting the 28th fastest time in Q1.
While a win in Q2 and a Top 3 finish in Q4 enabled Eek Murstad to limit the damage by taking sixth place in the class at the end of qualifying, Sebastian Enholm relied on his sense of consistency to pocket fifth place in the intermediate classification.
In fact, in 26 qualifying heats this season, Sebastian Enholm is the only driver in the class to have finished in the top 8 on 20 occasions.
With 98 points scored in qualifying, compared with 91 for Eek Murstad and 86 for Svensson, it was clearly his ability to patiently build up his races that enabled the experienced Swede to make the difference.
Admittedly, a collision at the start of the final nearly tipped the championship in Thomas Eek Murstad’s favor, but Enholm managed to score the vital last points he needed to take over from Isak Reiersen and Oskar Andersson in the CrossCar category.
“It wasn’t a perfect weekend, but I still managed to be consistent,” Sebastian points out.
“In the final, I knew that, to be crowned champion, I had to leave no more than two cars between myself and Thomas Eek-Murstad. For me, this title means a lot. It’s the outcome of all the hard work put in by my team, and I’d like to thank them for that.”
“After the Nitro championship last year, the RallyX crown is the greatest individual reward I could win at CrossCar level. Nevertheless, I’m a little saddened by Elias Svensson’s end to the weekend. He had a very strong last part of the championship and deserved to be able to fight all the way to the end for the title. Unfortunately, that puncture in the semi-final decided otherwise”.
While no driver has yet managed to win the RallyX title twice since the inception of the CrossCar category, Sebastian Enholm will now give himself time to consider his options for 2024.
“I don’t know what my 2024 season will look like, but we’ll be looking at that question soon. I’d love to get behind the wheel of a real Rallycross car, but we’ll see what the future holds. What’s certain is that I couldn’t dream of anything better than a title in this RallyX championship”.
