A former competitor in the FIA European TouringCar Championship before a brief stint in Supercar, Tobias Daarbak has decided to switch to RallyX this year.
However, together with his younger brother Kevin, the experienced Danish driver is discovering the characteristics of the Supercar Lites category with undoubted success.
This comes as no surprise to the man who has won no less than seven consecutive Danish CrossCar Championships. Patiently, Tobias had approached the opening round of the championship by making sure he got his bearings during the Rally Sprint event at Tierp. He only finished eighth in the first race of the weekend, but the following day he found the right balance to claim his first career podium at this level of the sport.
A performance he repeated in Kouvola with a second consecutive podium finish. Although he didn’t have the success he had hoped for in the second race of the weekend, finishing sixth in the intermediate classification before missing out on a third consecutive podium with a 4th place finish in the final, Tobias looks back on his debut championship with some satisfaction.
“This RallyX championship is such a tough competition that it’s a very good feeling to have finished on the podium twice. Of course, I could have clinched third place in Race 2 in Kouvola, but the engine started to lose power in the final. So it wasn’t the best final of my career, but I’m still happy with the weekend,” Tobias says.
The Danish driver, who has twice finished in the top three in the intermediate classification, has also managed to secure a top-three finish in five of the twelve qualifying heat he has taken part in since Tierp.
This proves that Tobias Daarbak, who seems far from having reached his full potential at the wheel of the Supercar Lites, will certainly be a force to be reckoned with. Already in the game in terms of pure speed, the Dane is gradually putting together the final pieces of the jigsaw that could enable him to match the famous trio of Andersson, Jansson and Olofsson.
“I’m happy that we’ve found the pace so quickly since the beginning of the championship,” says Tobias.
“My dream before Tierp was to qualify for a final and get closer and closer to the podium as the races went on. So to have two podiums in the first four races is a fantastic achievement.”
“My main goal this year was to take my time to learn the car and the category, but I have to admit that I’m already fourth in the championship, level on points with Julien Meunier. If I want to go one step further, I’ll have to find more speed. There’s nothing easy about this championship because all the drivers I’m up against every weekend are super fast. We’ll see how things go, but we’re trying to make progress by working on the set-up as well as my driving. There are still a lot of factors to play with and we’ll use the next few weeks to analyse everything in depth.”
One thing is for sure: with four weeks between Kouvola and Älvsbyn, the Danish driver is in no danger of losing his pace.
“My sporting schedule is more than intense at the moment. Even though there’s a long break between Kouvola and Älvsbyn, I’ve got plenty to keep me busy as I’m still competing in the Danish CrossCar Championship. In total, I have no less than ten races on my schedule over the next ten weeks. It’s very busy, but I love it and so does the rest of the family.”
