A new face in the Supercar Lites field, Pontus Oskarsson used the RallyX round in Riga this past May to get his bearings behind the wheel of his new machine. Despite a series of technical issues that denied him a shot at his first final, the former CrossCar Junior driver heads to Kymiring with renewed determination and clear goals.
While most of his rivals kicked off their seasons back in March in Portugal, Oskarsson took a more patient approach, waiting until Latvia to make his official competition debut in Supercar Lites.
His introduction to the category was marked by two semifinal exits, but it would take more than that to shake the resolve of the young Swedish rookie.
“At first, I was disappointed with the result. But after Sunday’s semifinal, I started to feel like the car wasn’t running at 100%,” Pontus admitted.
“When other teams started to mention it too, we realized it wasn’t just a feeling — there was a real issue that held us back the whole weekend. Looking back, I’m actually pretty pleased to have stayed competitive despite the problems. Most importantly, we’ve now fixed the issue, so we’ll be heading to Kymiring with a car that’s fully ready to perform.”
Despite the circumstances, Oskarsson came away from Riga with positive takeaways from his first taste of racing at this level.
“My goal was to keep pace with the other drivers, improve my lap times, and get comfortable on track while avoiding mistakes. I think I more or less met that goal. Having raced at Riga before definitely helped. It’s a demanding circuit. But in a way, that made the transition easier, since the driving style on asphalt is fairly similar to what I was used to in Junior CrossCar. Kymiring, however, will require a different approach. In Supercar Lites, a bit of understeer can actually help in certain gravel sections, whereas I used to prefer oversteer in the CrossCar.”
Although his preseason preparation was limited, Oskarsson isn’t too concerned heading into the next stages of the season.
“The snow and prolonged winter conditions didn’t allow me to prepare as thoroughly as I would have liked. Since I couldn’t get much track time, I focused on the car instead — stripped it almost entirely to make sure everything was in perfect condition mechanically. Before Riga, my only recent experience was a testing session in Höljes last autumn. That said, apart from Kymiring — which will be new for everyone in RallyX — I already know all the other tracks on the calendar, and I have to say that’s a big advantage.”
Even though he was unable to make it past the semifinals in Riga, and with a car that wasn’t running at its best, the young Swede sees the weekend as a valuable step forward in his learning curve.
“In Riga, my strategy was to focus on consistency first, then work on improving my pace. Overall, my lap times were pretty steady, and I managed to stay close to the front runners. In the end, the fact that the car wasn’t performing at its best kind of helped me — I saw that even with those issues, I was able to keep up with the pack. So now that the car is back to full performance, I’m even more motivated to go after the top drivers this weekend at Kymiring.”