Larsson gets VW Supercar drive

TouringCar star Robin Larsson starts what will be his penultimate event in the category this weekend in Austria for RallycrossRX Round Eight. The young Swede will race a Supercar at the final round of the Swedish rallycross championship at Kinnekulle two weeks after the RallycrossRX finale.

Larsson will drive for the Kristoffersson Motorsport team at Kinnekulle alongside regular driver Johan Kristoffersson, driving the VW Scirocco owned by Belgian Jochen Coox and driven at the Swedish RallycrossRX round by Pontus Tidemand.

“We are going to use the car of Coox. We will test for a couple of days after Germany, hopefully at Holjes. My Fabia is sold and will be taken away from Germany by Kjetil Larsen from Norway who will race it next year.”

With the Fabia gone and a Supercar drive so soon after finishing the 2013 season, Larsson’s ultimate aim is clear, to race a Supercar in 2014.

“I hope the event in Sweden will be fun, and I hope that can continue in Supercar next year. We will see what happens. I will need to take a lot of advice moving into this class. Michael [Jernberg] is with us for most of the races and he will stay a little involved when I drive the Supercar. He’s a good experience to have with us. It’s good to have him and my dad.”

Most drivers in the paddock crave to be a position of being able to draw on the experience of a rallycross expert. Larsson has been in the fortunate position since his European debut at the Austrian round last May of having both his father [double Supercar champion Lars Larsson] and Jernberg [multiple European championship runner-up] for guidance. With a drive at Kristoffersson Motorsport, that not only brings a hugely experienced and successful team, but also the knowledge of another rallycross legend in the shape of team owner Tommy Kristoffersson.

The Swedish Touring Car and Scandinavian Carrera Cup team Kristoffersson Motorsport have run Tommy’s son Johan in the Swedish Rallycross Championship this season in it’s own VW Scirocco, grew to a two-car team at the Volkswagen sponsored sixth round of the FIA European Championship at Holjes in July, and is keen to increase it’s involvement in top level rallycross.

“Robin will drive for the team at Kinnekulle, and we are currently in discussion with VW to do more, we want to do it and this is absolutely the best time for us to do it but we don’t have a green light yet,” says Tommy Kristoffersson.

Twenty-year-old Larsson graduated from the Swedish SuperNational championship last season, and won on his debut at European level. Aside from a mechanical failure putting him out of the next event in Hungary, Larsson went on to win the four other events he contested.  Having not put a foot wrong last year, the TouringCar category looked to be his to lose this season, but things haven’t gone his way, a series of poor results topped only with one win from seven at round two, Portugal.

“We have had a terrible season. We have had a couple of problems with the car and bad luck with the driving and now in the end it’s not so easy to get the motivation. In a full season you need to take care of the car and everything, it’s not easy to win every race. Last year we almost won everything but now when you try and push to win [the championship] it’s a big difference.”

Keen to put a troubled year behind him, Larsson is looking forward to his Supercar debut in just a month’s time. “I am really excited to be driving the Supercar in Sweden, it will be a lot of fun. There are a lot of good drivers so it will be a good experience if we can do something for next year, it’s a tough class. The track is just 15 or 20 Swedish miles from my home so there will be a lot of people I know there.”

Clearly not scared of the task ahead, Larsson has a clear objective for his Supercar debut, and the future; “I like to win so hopefully we can get a good position, but it’s not that easy. The European championship has grown a lot this year with RallycrossRX, and the amount of television coverage and everything hopefully will get us some bigger sponsors. My goal is to do the World Championship in a Supercar.”