Beaten last year by Sebastian Enholm and Thomas Eek Murstad in the CrossCar class, Elias Svensson has confirmed that he will be back for another full season in 2024.
In September 2023 at Höljes it was a puncture on the last lap while leading his semi-final that cost him the championship for good.
Finishing third in the overall standings, the Casmat driver was then faced with the disillusionment of seeing the crown slip from his grasp in the very last moments of the 2023 season.
This time around, Elias Svensson will be back in business at the Tierp Arena in May, determined to avenge his fate.
“Last year’s title loss is now history. It’s always painful when I think about it, but we have to move on and look to the future. The first days after Höljes were not easy, but I had such a strong desire for revenge that I signed up for the last race of the Swedish championship, which I won, and after that it was much easier for me to forget what happened in the last round of the RallyX season.” says Elias.
“I have to focus on the positive. On a personal level, it was the first time I’d had to fight in a championship that was undecided until the last final of the season. After the qualifications in Höljes there were still three of us who had a chance to win the title. I’ve never seen a season with such intensity, but the good thing was that it made the championship extremely exciting and interesting to be a part of.”
With a total of four wins and six podiums in the last two seasons, Elias Svensson is naturally expected to be the favorite for the 2024 championship. A fact that doesn’t seem to worry the young Swedish driver.
“No, being the favorite doesn’t put any pressure on me. Even last year, many people considered me one of the three drivers capable of winning the title, but that didn’t really influence my approach to the competition, and it will be exactly the same in 2024. I know what I have to do, so this favorite status doesn’t change anything for me. Like last year, it’s going to come down to my ability to be fast and not make the wrong decisions.”
Naturally, Elias Svensson is keen to get his revenge in 2023 as he prepares to get back to business as usual at the wheel of his Casmat chassis.
“I hope Sebastian Enholm will be back to defend his title in 2024,” says the Swedish driver.
“If I want to take revenge on 2023, I need to be able to do it against the best drivers, and Sebastian is one of them thanks to his title last year. In fact, the ideal scenario would be for all the drivers who were in the top 5 last year to be back in 2024. I don’t really know what this championship will be like, but I expect the level of difficulty to be at least the same as last year. I know that all my competitors are working hard this winter to get to the top of the class. That’s all to say that the 2024 season promises to be as complicated as it is competitive.”
