Impressive World RX round by Veiby
In front of 40 000 enthusiastic spectators in Höljes, Ole Christian Veiby made an outstanding performance in this weekend’s World Rallycross Championship round. The 19-year-old managed to succeed in his goal to get to the semi-finals and was one of the big surprises of the weekend.
July 07, 2015
In front of 40 000 enthusiastic spectators in Höljes, Ole Christian Veiby made an outstanding performance in this weekend’s World Rallycross Championship round. The 19-year-old managed to succeed in his goal to get to the semi-finals and was one of the big surprises of the weekend.
“This has been incredibly fun. I succeeded with the objective and I cannot be anything other than pleased. When I made it to the semi finals, I obviously hoped to make it all the way to the finals. But I had a poor start, the engine died a bit. In addition, I almost had a spin and dropped a position. But in this company, reaching the semi-finals is really good” said Ole Christian Veiby, who finished fifth in his heat in the semis.
The youngster, who competes for Volkswagen Team Sweden, stood out already in the first heat in Höljes. After Saturday’s two qualifying heats, he had a strong fifth place with top drivers like Petter Solberg and Mattias Ekström behind him in the standings after the first day. Sunday was all about staying in the top 12 in order to qualify for the semi-finals, something Ole managed just fine. After the first four rounds, he was in eighth place.
“In this line-up, that is something I am very happy about. We showed that we can keep up with the pace of the best drivers. A spot in the finals would just have been a bonus” said Ole, who was the most successful Volkswagen Team Sweden driver this weekend. Ole’s teammate Johan Kristoffersson, who are second in the overall World RX standings, ended up behind Ole in the semis.
As many as 39 800 spectators had traveled to the small town of Höljes, in the north of Värmland county. On the stands were also thousands of Norwegians.
“It is just so cool to be a part of this festival. I had many friends and familiar faces cheering for me and then it feels even more fun to perform well” said Ole, who aims to take a medal in the European Rallycross Championship this season. After two rounds, he is in third place in the overall standings. The Euro RX is held together with five of the World RX rounds. The Höljes round was not part of the Euro RX, but still a number of Ole’s biggest rivals participated. And none of them managed to beat the young Norwegian, who was the best “Euro RX” driver.
“That is something I will take with me and it is obviously good for my confidence to know that I can beat my Euro RX competitors” he states.
The next World RX round, where also the Euro RX is included, takes place in Hell in northern Norway on 22-23 August.
“I have never driven on the track, but it will be great fun to show what I can do on home soil. If I can continue on the path I started on this weekend, my competitors have to be pretty good if they want to beat me” said Ole.