Rotary “Pirkka”

Finland-Swede from the Åland Islands living in Norway and driving Rallycross with a Japanese car.

During his daily internet checkings for information about Rallycross in Sweden yours truly was somewhat surprised to find a story on the website of the newspaper ‘Nya Åland’ about a man with a Swedish name and a Finnish nickname who is competing in Norwegian Rallycross events with a Japanese car. The Åland Islands? Right, some memories spring to mind. When taking the ferryboats from Kapellskär near Norrtälje in Sweden to Naantali near Turku in Finland, in the late 1970s and thoughout the 1980s, to get to the Finnish ERC rounds at Hyrylä and Hämeenlinna, there has always been a stop-over in the middle of the night at Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands, an autonomous, demilitarised, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland.

John “Pirkka” Karlsson is a Swedish-speaking Finn who is living in Norway for almost 10 years now. Born on December 9 1980 on the Åland Islands, in the winter of 2001/2002 he moved to the Norwegian county of Hordaland to work and settle himself – on another island. He lives at the Isle of Askøy now, which is situated north-west to the town of Bergen, and his daily job is being a construction plant driver for the local groundwork company Idar Nese AS.

John started his motorsport career in 1998 by competing in Folkrace and Crosskart events on the Ålands as well as in Sweden. After moving to Norway he was soon baptized “Pirkka” by his friends and colleagues; a nickname adopted from the funny character of ‘Piirka Kellivoite Kollonemi’ of the television series ‘Borettslaget’, an unemployed Finn who is earning some money for living as an illegal taxi driver. In 2003 “Pirkka” drove his first Bilcross in Norway, similar to Folkrace events in Sweden and Jokamiehenluokka races in Finland and an inexpensive entry-level form of Rallycross. While during his first three years in Norwegian motorsport he drove rather sporadically in Bilcross and also his first Rallycross events, but in 2006 Karlsson needed his money and spare time to build himself a new home.

In 2007 and 2008 “Pirkka” competed with an ex-Pelle Erland and ex-Ole Kristian Nøttveit Mazda RX-7 in the Norwegian SuperNational Rallycross championship, eventually claiming the third respectively the second place of the series. Between 2009 and early 2011 a new Mazda RX-8 was planned and build to be used for both, the usual NRC events as well as one or two ERC rounds a year. Therefore, the rotary engined Japanese racer has been prepared by following the FIA technical rules for TouringCars and its driver is currently looking forward to take part in the Norwegian ERC round at Hell and possibly the Swedish ERC event at Höljes too. And while John “Pirkka” Karlsson is competing with a Norwegian racing licence for many a year now he is still holder of his Finnish passport and presenting the official flag of the Ålands on his Mazda.

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