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Reaching final on World RX debut ‘exceeded’ Volland’s expectations
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As he prepared to go wheel-to-wheel with the FIA World Rallycross Championship protagonists for the first time in Istanbul last month, Nils Volland’s primary goal was to continue gaining experience and learn from his illustrious rivals. Reaching the final was not on his radar – yet that is exactly what the talented young German achieved.
Twenty-four hours after finishing sixth in the Euro RX1 season finale – in so doing, securing fourth position in the standings at the end of his rookie campaign in the European Championship’s top-tier – Volland took the next step in his burgeoning career by pitting himself directly against the likes of Johan Kristoffersson and Niclas Grönholm.
In Q1, the Volland Racing ace got the better of freshly-crowned European Champion Yury Belevskiy, Saturday Euro RX1 winner Damian Litwinowicz and World RX star Klara Andersson to post the fifth-fastest time, before valiantly giving chase to KMS duo Ole Christian Veiby and Kristoffersson on his way to the fourth-quickest run in Q2.
Another solid performance in Q3 earned Volland an excellent fifth in the intermediate classification – ahead of both CE Dealer Team cars and best-placed of the four Audis in the 14-strong field – and he subsequently finished third in the first of the semi-finals to book his berth in the all-important final.
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One of just two of the ten Euro RX1 competitors to advance that far, despite losing out to Andersson at the start, the 2024 Euro RX3 Champion thereafter showed good speed and held his own against the World RX regulars. Looking back now, he is proud of his performance – and rightly so.
“I wasn’t so happy with my pace on the Saturday – I struggled a bit in some parts of the track – but it was great to be one of the fastest combustion cars on the Sunday, and it definitely exceeded my expectations to reach the final on my debut against the World RX drivers,” Volland reflected. “Only two ICE cars achieved that, and I was one of them. That was clearly a confidence boost that I can take with me into next season.”
On the subject of 2026, while the 25-year-old Roth native has yet to finalise his plans, it is clear that he is keen to return to the Euro RX1 field to build upon everything he has learned this year.
“The target is to race in the European Championship again and fight for podiums,” he acknowledged. “It’s not 100 per cent confirmed yet that I will be on the grid, but that’s certainly my goal.
“We will work hard over the winter to develop the car a little bit, and I will concentrate on making improvements to my driving as well.
“Who knows, maybe we’ll see some of the World Championship drivers joining Euro RX1 now, which would make it even more competitive and if we end up with more cars than we had this season, I think it could be a really cool show...”
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