Henrik Krogstad has taken the lead in RallyX Nordic's Supercar Lites category, after claiming his first-ever round win at the third round of the season in Arvika, Sweden.
PHOTO CREDIT: ROBIN LINDQUIST
The Swede topped every practice session, three out of four qualifying rounds, and the first semi-final on his way to overall victory.
His most dominant run of the weekend was in the second qualifying round, where he went four seconds faster than any other driver; an unheard of advantage in a four-lap rallycross race, where races are often settled with gaps as small as tenths of a second.
After a second and fourth place at the season-opening Magic Weekend double-header at Höljes, Krogstad was fourth in the championship heading to Arvika. But a maximum points score from round three propelled him all the way to the top of the standings, tied with Jesse Kallio on 71 points.
"We were doing a lot of testing on Monday focusing only on our starts. I’ve been quick at Arvika before but never been able to get in clean air, and this weekend I nailed every start, which allowed me to just enjoy driving upfront rather than having to fight every lap," Krogstad said. "And this will be useful for the season finale at Nysum too, even more so than here at Arvika."
“I also had enough self-confidence to be able to enjoy being in the lead. I knew that even if the other drivers could follow me, they couldn’t pass me, because the speeds here are so high. Höljes has always been one of my weaker tracks so we worked really hard on the little details there, and kept that approach here. So now we’ve come here, to a track that suits me, and we’re extremely fast."
"We had a great setup on the car from the start. I don’t believe we changed anything on the car all weekend, at least nothing significant with the set-up. Eric and the guys used their experience with the Lites car and their baseline set-up was perfect out of the box.
"It’s been so great having Timmy here. He knows so much and he has the answer to everything that I ask. It’s not only down to the advice he gives about driving but his mental coaching, ensuring I have the right mindset during the weekend, which is so important as well."
Reigning World RX Champion Timmy Hansen, #YellowSquad's Head of Driver Development, was trackside to help Krogstad optimize his performance throughout the weekend.
Hansen has revealed how impressed he is with Krogstad's performance.
"Henrik's performance this weekend is one of the best I've ever seen in rallycross," Hansen said. "It's a one-make series and to be sometimes a second a lap faster than anyone else is absolutely amazing, especially considering these are the best drivers you can go up against in this class right now. And he was still in a league of his own."
“From the beginning, he had fantastic pace and within the team, we didn't look too much at the others. Even though we were far ahead we still worked on the details and trying to get that perfect run together and race by race, we were still able to improve and find a bit of time here and there."
A happy Timmy Hansen thrilled with what his seeing.
PHOTO CREDIT: ROBIN LINDQUIST
"Henrik drove with incredible confidence and seeing him in the semi-final and final, securing it with such a margin, is something that doesn't happen very often. It's a fantastic sporting achievement, so I must take my hat off to Henrik this weekend and to the entire #YellowSquad team. We were able to get the set-up just to Henrik's liking and all of the pieces came together this weekend."
"It's a lot of pressure performing at the end after such a good weekend; I know that myself from my own good races! But he was still able to put that run together when he needed to in the semi-final and final. So it was a massive performance, hugely impressive, I couldn't have done it better myself, so I'm very proud of him."
The #YellowSquad's next event is the RallyX Nordic season finale at Nysum, Denmark, on September 4-6.
Written By - Junaid Samodien
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