A mere rookie in the Supercar Lites category last season, Nils Christian Haug is determined to use the 2024 season to reach a new milestone in his progress.
Indeed, despite a series of technical problems that often prevented him from playing his part at the Nysum and Tierp events in 2023, the Norwegian was able to demonstrate his efficiency in Finland by qualifying for a final on two occasions.
Ninth overall last season, Nils Christian Haug is looking forward to his second campaign in the RallyX championship.
“When I arrived in the championship last year, my experience with the Supercar Lites was very limited, as apart from a test session in 2019 on the Tierp circuit, I had only been allowed a few laps on the Gardermoen track before heading to Nysum,” Nils Christian points out.
“I had a difficult start to the championship, with the car not performing as I’d hoped in Nysum. This prompted us to work on the suspension so that I could use the car the way I wanted, but we had other problems with a car that was very nervous on the straights. We also had understeer problems without me being able to correct my lines with the handbrake in the corners”
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the Norwegian to put things right at the halfway point of the season, with two qualifying spots for a final at Kouvola.
“Things started to improve in Finland. Kouvola is a track that suits my style a lot better and that allowed me to reach the final twice. However, on the second day, a broken steering rack in the semi-final could have prevented us from starting the final, but we managed to repair it in time. Needless to say, I’m very happy with what we achieved this weekend.
Although Nils-Christian Haug was not able to repeat the same performance in Grenland and Höljes, he took the time over the winter to check his machine from top to bottom, and it is naturally with higher ambitions that he prepares for the 2024 season.
“In Grenland my performances were good, but I made a big mistake with a false start in the semi-final, while in Höljes I never managed to find the right formula. Although it’s a very nice track, our results were not very good.”
“This winter we tried to solve the handbrake problems that hampered us last year, and we quickly put our finger on the source of our troubles when we found a damaged coupling that was involved in sending air into the mechanism every time I pulled the lever. Now everything is back in place and I’ll finally be able to take advantage of the handbrake to rotate the car in tight corners.”
“With all the experience we gained last year, I’m now hoping to qualify for as many finals as possible and, why not, try to get on the podium. I’m confident because with all the work we’ve put in since last year, we’ve finally managed to get a car that’s a lot of fun to drive.”
“I am especially looking forward to returning to Kouvola to see if I can repeat and improve on my performance from last year in Finland. And although Estering is the track I’m most looking forward to, I’m also excited about discovering a new venue like Älvsbyn.”
