In the middle of the season we had the first ever Battle of the Nordics event. This is trying to be a race to get drivers from all the Nordic countries to battle it out for the title of the unofficial Nordic Champion. I had to run my old trusted TLR 5ive-X car and managed to win this with the quick RV295 engine to put some good speed in my package. 

The main part of all the races like previous seasons are the RCBash Sweden Large Scale Cup that consists of 5 races. I won the first four of them but had a really bad first race from a points perspective. This meant that the last race was still wide open to decide the overall cup standings.

The last race was held in Norrköping at an all Astro track. I know from previous years that this track is really fun but also challenging from the amount of grip. When it’s dry it’s easy to grip roll and when it’s wet it can be very slippery and you slide around each corner. Those two states requires almost opposite setups on the car, either increasing grip or reduce it.

In the beginning of the day the track was still wet from some rain during the night. I disengaged the rollbars to get some extra roll and increase grip. I switched from Astro Grip to Astro Max and also moved in the shocks on the lower arms.

The first qualification race I drove without pushing just to make sure to be in the A-heat in the 1/8 final. This is very important from a points perspective for the rest of the day, and I was here to make sure to get enough points for the total win. I managed to end up in second place as the local fast guy Robin took the first place.

In the 1/8 final I was battling with Malcolm but couldn’t really keep it together so had to set for a second place. And there was a lot of fast guys behind so this signaled this was going to be a tough day with tight racing. Just how I like it!

After lunch the track had dried up considerably so I put on rollbars again and moved out the shocks to get a stiffer car to prevent grip rolling which I noticed started to be a problem for many. I started second in the quarter final but got a good start and had a pretty comfortable race with a good win. I think I also got the fastest lap for this round, which is not usually the case.

For the semifinal I switched to Astro Grip that even if the name sounds like it has a lot of grip actually has less grip than the Astro Max we used in previous heats. This was to further reduce the risk of grip rolling.

I didn’t get away to a good start and was passed by both Robin and Malcolm. I had to battle my way up and managed to pass Malcolm but Robin was really fast and didn’t make any misstakes even if I drove a pretty good clean heat myself. This is the level of competition we now have in 4wd, a couple of misstakes and you’re out of the lead.

After two second places and one win I had 58 points going into the finals. Robin and Malcolm had 56 each and they were the only ones who could challenge me for the total win so at this point I just need to Finnish one lap in the final to secure the total cup, mission accomplished. But I wanted to win the last final as well of course. The points led me to start in pole for the final, I like to start first and try to get a clean start and put some space between me and the rest of the field. Many accidents and crashes happens on the first laps and it costs a lot of time. But I also don’t try to push too hard to not make any mistakes myself. The final is for 20 minutes and I usually know I’m good in the long run winning by making fewer misstakes than the rest of the field. Not always the fastest lap times, but the lowest average lap times with low deviation. Consistency is key in racing but you have to go fast as well of course.

I got away to a really good start, felt like I had a little gap already after the first lap but the cars behind me closed that gap and then it was close racing the rest of the final. First I had a really good battle with Malcom which was fun. After Malcolm made a mistake I could breath a little bit but not for long because I made a misstake and then Robin was in my back right away. I led for quite some time but could never get him of my back. This made me push harder and that caused me to make misstakes, especially grip rolling. Me and Robin switched places a couple of times as he also made misstakes. But in the end I did too many misstakes and Robin could pull away. He really deserved this win on his home track in front of friends and family, it was great seeing them cheering for him.

I counted that I had 6 times I needed marshalling and 2 times and managed to get back on the ires by myself. Usually I might need marshalling 2-3 times during a final. The problem I was facing was that the car was still grip rolling, I would have needed thicker oil and stronger springs. I didn’t have any stronger springs to put on and I was actually lazy enough to not change oil, so this is totally on me. But since the others were so good I couldn’t really back down on my throttle so always on the edge in some curves and I had 4 rolls in one particular curve. This is where I lost the race.

Of course it would have been fun to ave a clean sweep by winning all 5 races but 4 races and a second place in the final is a great result. Winning the cup for the fourth time in a row is also something I’m really proud of. It’s not easy to be consistent and keep on delivering points in every race during a year. It put some stress on you but also keeps you on the toes to always make sure the car is in good condition and that you drive smart. As mentioned before the level of racing has increased immensely the last couple of years, more ad more people join the 4wd class and more and more are in the mix for winning races and being on the podium. Next year I anticipate it’s going to be even harder and more people fighting for wins and the cup. I’m not sure at all I will be able to win a fifth time but I will give it my best. People ask me how I feel about being challenged, I say bring it on. This only inspires me more to raise my own level of racing. One thing I need to improve even further for the next season is to be even faster, have the fastest lap of the day and still being consistent and make few misstakes. That will be a true challenge! 

Already looking forward to 2023, but first a winter where I will make some changes on the car to come back even stronger. This was my first year with Ultron and RV engines and it was a great success, next year I will be even more comfortable with the platform and hope to bring it to the next level. And maybe we will give the Euros another try in Starec, but we’ll see…