Lundh aims for 2014 TouringCar title

Daniel Lundh came of age as a European championship competitor in 2013, scoring his first TouringCar victory and only just falling short of making the championship podium. The Swedish driver is pleased with his year and feels ready for the next step in 2014; to challenge for the TouringCar title at the wheel of his Volvo C30.

“I have good highlights from this season,” says Lundh. “Taking a victory in Hungary was a lot of fun, but also the second place we got at Holjes in front of my friends and our sponsors. Of course you always want to win but that was special. France too was pretty amazing, we finished second again but it was great to race in front of that many people.”

Lundh is quick to compliment his rivals from the past season on the quality of racing in TouringCar. “Derek (Tohill) and Robin (Larsson) were very enjoyable to race against, especially Derek, he is very fair. Of course Koen Pauwels was good too.”

Lundh has approached his career so far in TouringCar with a clear head. Originally commissioning a bodyshell from Ingvar Gunnarsson Motorsport the Swedes team then completed the build of the Volvo at their base and contested just their home round in 2011 at Holjes. Six events in 2012 followed before a full campaign in 2013. Like any season in motorsport, Lundh’s highs over the 2013 season were coupled with low points too, but he feels that despite frustrating these are necessary to build his experience to be able to fight for the championship.

“Our season started badly in England where we crashed in the first heat. We also crashed in the first heat in Austria, which was not so funny. The engine died in the last corner and I got it started again but I had contact with Robin and hit some tyres, looking back we were really lucky the car didn’t roll right over. We got it fixed for heat two and even though we were third fastest the car wasn’t great.”

“The plan was always to build up, we know we have the speed to win but you need luck too. We have leant a lot with the car and as a driver. I was really happy with four of my eight events this year, we just need to to minimise the mistakes for next season. I hope we can fight for the championship, but of course many guys want that too! We will strip the car down now and maybe make some small changes.”

Aware that rallycross is going places, Lundh has career goals but is equally has his feet firmly on the ground.

“”I think RallycrossRX is really good. They (IMG) have done a great job this year, it has all been much better than in previous years. Of course there is room for improvement, but that is the same in anything. In a few years I hope I can race a Supercar, thats where I ultimately want to be but I know I need a much bigger budget but I really hope that we can get there eventually. Right now the focus is on next season.”

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