Currently third in the Swedish Rallycross Championship CrossCar standings, Hugo Lundgren is preparing to take on a new challenge. The young Swede will make his Supercar Lites debut this weekend at Nysum, driving a car entered by Team Färén.
Reserved by nature, Lundgren, who celebrated his 16th birthday in June, has let his performances do the talking this season. He has reached the final in all four rounds of the Swedish Championship so far and claimed his first podium finish at the Tomelilla circuit.
Third in the overall standings, Lundgren sits 17 points behind 2023 RallyX CrossCar champion Sebastian Enholm and 19 points adrift of Oliver Lucas Jensen.
“This is an opportunity for me to take on a new challenge. The main objective of competing in Supercar Lites this weekend is to experience the category and see whether it could be the right fit for us going forward.”
“There are naturally plenty of unknowns, but that’s part of what makes this so exciting. I don’t have any particular expectations. My goal is simply to get to grips with the car, finish the races and gain experience. We’re not putting any pressure on ourselves in terms of results.”
That philosophy is shared by Eric Färén, who will guide Lundgren throughout the weekend.
“Hugo is already a very quick CrossCar driver. Once he’s behind the wheel, he knows exactly what he has to do. Our role is mainly to help him adapt to the category. The advice we can give him is mostly about everything that comes with driving this type of car, because he’ll be dealing with a completely new environment. We’ll do everything we can to support him throughout the weekend without putting any pressure on him.”
Although he admits he is not particularly comfortable when facing the media, Lundgren says all of that disappears once he climbs into the cockpit.
“I get very nervous when I have to do interviews, but as soon as I put my helmet on, that feeling disappears. Once I’m in the car, I’m much more relaxed.”
What comes next remains to be seen.
“At the moment, we haven’t made any decisions about the future of our rallycross programme. We’re taking things one step at a time. We don’t have a specific plan, either in terms of results or for the coming seasons. The idea is simply to enjoy this experience and see where it takes us.”