HARD-FOUGHT VICTORY AT THE SEASON OPENER
Volland Racing started its season in the European Rallycross Championship in Nyirad, Hungary, just a few kilometres away from Lake Balaton. A holiday or a trip to the lake was out of the question, however, as the team had its hands full making the season opener a success. In addition, a new race format presented the drivers with particular challenges.
The most remarkable change: in the finals there are no longer three starting rows; instead, the drivers now also start side by side in a pack. This has never happened in rallycross before. In addition, championship points are now only awarded for the final classification, no longer for qualifying.
“In rallycross the start is incredibly important. If you had qualified for the front row in the final, you had a car length’s advantage – that could decide the race,” Volland describes the change, adding: “this advantage no longer exists.” The participants of the season opener thus fought out some exciting heats on Saturday and Sunday. For the two drivers of team Volland Racing, Kobe Pauwels from Belgium and Nuno Araujo from Portugal, the goal was to get off to a great start to the season. Both were determined to reach the final, but while Pauwels left nothing to chance with a win in his semi-final, Araujo had to admit defeat. With fourth place in his semi-final, the Portuguese narrowly missed out on a place among the top five.
The team now looked hopefully to youngster Pauwels, who initially lined up behind the Czech Jan Cerny (Skoda) in the final. The experienced Cerny is one of the top drivers in the class; he has set himself very clear goals for the 2022 season and wants to fight for the title. “We wanted to take little risk and did not let Kobe attack, so that both could drive the fastest possible laps. We knew that Kobe might be faster, but this way we increased the gap to the chasers – and when we sent Kobe into the joker lap, it was actually enough for the win,” Volland was pleased to say. The team’s tactics had worked out perfectly, and Pauwels crowned his great performance of the race weekend with a victory in the final and the championship lead at the start of the season.
In just under a month, the team will have to defend its championship lead in Höljes, Sweden. For team manager Rolf Volland one thing is already clear: “It won’t be easy, the competitors are really strong this year, we still have a few hot races ahead of us.”
Links:
www.rallycrossrx.com (official website)
