Off the back of another giant-killing display in
the FIA European Rallycross Championship’s top tier this year, Sivert Svardal
is aiming to secure a seat with a leading team and car in 2024 in a bid to
consistently take the fight to the best in the business.
Svardal might have placed ‘only’ seventh in the
standings in his third full campaign at Euro RX1 level – a three-place drop
compared to 2022 – but on-track, it was unquestionably his finest season
to-date as he truly came of age and established himself as a regular
front-runner at the pinnacle of European competition.
The highly-rated young Norwegian’s breakthrough
international victory on home soil in Hell – arguably the most popular triumph
in any category in 2023 – was as brilliant as it was opportunistic, and while
unavoidable contact with a stranded Anton Marklund in the Nyirád curtain-raiser
dealt a hefty blow to his hopes of a strong championship finish, he was always
firmly in the mix.
After unleashing Andreas Bakkerud-rivalling
speed in Sweden, a maiden fastest heat time in Portugal – having missed out by
a scant 0.019s in Hungary – was followed up by third position in the
intermediate ranking in Belgium. Indeed, come season’s end, only Marklund,
Jānis Baumanis and Enzo Ide could lay claim to more top three heat race
performances than Svardal.
“I went into the season with greater motivation
and confidence than ever before, and I think that showed in my driving,” the
23-year-old reflects. “The Volkswagen Polo that we bought last winter allowed
me to take the next step and go wheel-to-wheel with the best in Europe. We knew
that if the favourites hit trouble, we could be right there to take advantage
and in Hell, that was exactly what we did.
“Höljes was definitely our strongest circuit in
terms of pure speed. I was easily able to keep up with Andreas Bakkerud in heat
three and when we got to the final, I really thought another podium was within
reach. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out and we had to settle for sixth place,
but that’s rallycross. Sometimes things go your way – like in Norway – and
sometimes they don’t.”
While acknowledging that his ex-Marklund
Motorsport Polo was ‘much more competitive than the model that we ran in 2021 and
2022’, still it was not quite at the same level as the former world
championship cars in the field.
Not only that, but in a series that pits large,
well-established teams against plucky privateers, Svardal’s tiny, family-run operation
– comprising just his father and a mechanic – is very much at the latter end of
the spectrum, making his achievements all the more impressive. Having spent
three seasons boldly battling the big-buck outfits, however, now he wants to
join them.
“Competing in a championship like this with our
family team is a tough task because we have to do everything ourselves, from
raising the budget to all the logistics as well as updates and repairs to the
car,” explains the Konsmo native.
“I’m not complaining – we knew what to expect when
we entered the championship – but perhaps being such a small team, we aren’t
able to react as quickly as the larger teams and that means we don’t always get
the best out of the car.
“We’re currently considering selling the Polo, and
if we manage to do so, we will give serious thought to the possibility of renting
a car with a professional team for a couple of rounds next season.
“What I
really want is to try one of the latest-generation Supercars like an Audi S1 or
Hyundai i20. I’m pretty sure that if I’d had the same kind of technical package
as Anton [Marklund] or Enzo [Ide], I could have fought for the title this year,
so I’d love to see what I can achieve with a car of that calibre...”
Finland
Italy
Hungary