With the RallyX championship set to kick off at Tierp Arena this weekend, the Pace Motorsport team already seems to have what it takes to thwart the competition in the CrossCar category.
While his team-mate Pasi Penttinen was able to use the first round of the FIA European Championship in Germany last weekend to make final preparations for the Swedish round at Tierp, Jimmie Osterberg is well aware that the Pace Motorsport squad has some top-class team-mates on its side.
Joined this winter by Martin Juga and Pasi Penttinen, Jimmie also knows that he can rely on Estonian driver Romet Tsirna.
A solid team
“With the addition of Martin Juga and Pasi Penttinen, the team can count on two very fast drivers,” says Jimmie.
“Martin showed last year that he can compete at the top, and he proved it by winning the last race of the season at Höljes. For his part, we all know that if Pasi can control his enthusiasm and sense of attack, he too will be able to fight for the championship. I also expect Romet Tsirna to be competitive. Last year was only his first full season in RallyX. So Romet had a lot to learn and discover. He wasn’t fully acclimatised to the tracks, but his performances at the end of the season gave us a glimpse of real progress”.
These reinforcements will not be too much to dampen the ambitions of outgoing champion Sebastian Enholm (Sebastian has not yet signed up for a full season – editor’s note), who makes his return to racing this week in Tierp, as well as the two big favourites for the 2024 season, Thomas Eek Murstad and Elias Svensson.
Tough competition
“It is clear that our two biggest rivals this year will be Elias Svensson and Thomas Eek Murstad,” says Jimmie.
“Both of them have a lot of experience with their cars. They know exactly how to adjust their set-up according to the evolution of the track. As for us, we’re arriving with a new machine and we’ll certainly have to learn a lot during the first few races of the championship.”
“However, given the efficiency of our TN11 chassis, I don’t think we’ll need much time to reach its full potential. We’ve already found a solid base of settings, so things are moving in the right direction. From now on our job will be to fine-tune the final details according to the characteristics of each track. What’s certain is that our potential with the TN11 is much clearer than it was at this time last year with the TN5 version.”
Higher ambitions
One thing is for sure, the introduction of the TN11 has clearly allowed Jimmie Osterberg to raise his ambitions. The Swede, who already had two podium finishes at the wheel of the TN5 last year, remains the only driver to have secured a top-3 finish for the LifeLive brand in the RallyX championship.
“I knew last year was going to be a bit of a transition season for me,” admits Osterberg.
“When I joined the LifeLive team and Pace Motorsport, I was looking for a long-term investment until the TN11 chassis became available for the RallyX championship. Of course, my season hasn’t always been easy, as I expected, but I have managed to take two podiums in Denmark and Finland.”
“It was a very nice surprise for the whole team to achieve such results. We’ve always tried to give it our all and push the limits of the equipment we had on board. We did everything we could to get the best possible results, but it’s clear that ninth overall wasn’t really up to my usual standards, as I’ve always managed to finish my seasons in the top 5 of the championship.”
“The TN5 and TN11 are two completely different machines. LifeLive have really done an enormous amount of work, completely rethinking their philosophy. Whether it’s the geometry or the steering, the change is radical. You can see that everything has been perfectly anticipated in the design of this chassis. Not only is it a very fast machine, but it also makes it easier for the mechanics to work between runs if there is a technical problem with the car. To be honest, the TN11 is based on a completely different concept to the TN5 version”.
That should be enough to put the Estonian team in the limelight…
