Three-time Swedish CrossCar champion and two-time Northern European champion, 2023 was Noel Eliasson’s first campaign in the RallyX championship. Ranked thirteenth overall, the Swedish national team member hopes to use the off-season to reach a new milestone in his development.
Although the Swedish driver failed to qualify for any of the finals, he was able to demonstrate his speed.
In the 26 qualifying rounds of the 2023 season, Noel scored two top-five and six top-eight finishes. Not bad for a driver discovering both the RallyX championship and the new EDGE chassis he acquired in the summer of 2022.
“For a first season in the RallyX championship, the results are quite decent,” explains Noel.
“Of course you always hope to do better, but this was my first season with this chassis. It took me a while to get to grips with the car, while I also had to get used to a new competition format. Up to now it’s all about positions, but in rallycross it’s all about time. The car worked well overall, but of course we’d have preferred better results.”
As well as having to get used to his new working tool, Noel admits that his preparations for the 2023 season have not been optimal.
“We went into the first round of the championship in Denmark without being able to do as much testing as we would have liked. The winter lasted longer than expected, which affected our preparation. On the other hand, after the summer break, the second half of the season went much smoother for us in Grenland and Höljes. Our speed was much better than at the beginning of the season, but we still lacked enough to go after the top guys in the championship. I just think that we’re still missing some experience with this new chassis.”
“We need more miles and more work to improve our set-up. On a wet track we weren’t too bad, but I think we still have a lot of room for improvement on a dry track. In other words, we still have a lot of work to do if we want to be in a position to fight for victory”
However, the penultimate round of the championship, which took place at Grenland, gave Noel Eliasson a chance to reassure himself. With a seventh-place qualifying result, the Arboga native had his best performance of the season in Norway.
“I think I had the best feeling in Norway. It was a very wet weekend and we didn’t have the best start to the race as we had to change the engine after the first free practice, but it just so happened that the weather conditions allowed us to show that we had a great pace. I didn’t always have the best track conditions in qualifying, but all in all I’m pretty happy with what I was able to show in Grenland. Even though I didn’t manage to qualify for the final, I have to admit that I had a very good weekend”.
While Noel is looking forward to the 2024 season with great determination, the Swede is more aware than ever that it’s his preparation that will have the most significant impact on his level of performance.
“We learned a lot this year. Whether it was me or my dad on the mechanical side, we worked really hard on a machine that we didn’t really have any hindsight on due to the lack of testing before the start of the 2023 championship. From the behavior of the chassis to the set-up, we really discovered everything on the job,” continues Noel, who does not hide his difficulties.
“This 2023 season hasn’t been easy. At the beginning of the season I struggled to find a feeling that could be as good as my previous car. Admittedly, I have some experience because I’ve been racing in CrossCar for several seasons now, but this year everything was new for me. It took me a while to get used to the new chassis, while at the same time there were so many new things to discover.”
“And then this championship is so tough that you have to be able to look for those little details that can make all the difference, and maybe I didn’t get there as quickly as I would have liked. I’m happy with the performance of the chassis, but we still have to work on it if we want to achieve perfection. That’s something we’ll be working on over the winter, trying to identify the areas where we need to improve. Above all, we’re going to do everything we can to be able to carry out our first test sessions in the first weeks of spring, so that we can arrive in perfect shape for the start of the 2024 season.”
