Volland made his debut on the international
stage just two years ago, and entering the 2023 Euro RX3 campaign, he was still
lacking significantly in the experience stakes compared to many of his rivals –
not least Volland Racing stablemates Damian Litwinowicz and Espen Isaksætre.
Be that as it may, it was the German who came
out-of-the-blocks fastest in the Hungarian curtain-raiser at Nyirád with
victory in the opening heat, only for a last lap clash with home hero Balázs
Körmöczi in heat three and an error at the start of his semi-final to cause his
bid for glory to rapidly unravel.
Five weeks later in Portugal, Volland saw
another opportunity to win bite the dust – this time, through no fault of his
own. Third in the intermediate standings, he pipped Litwinowicz to the
chequered flag in the pair’s semi-final to earn pole position for the
all-important final, in which he looked set to repeat the feat.
After responding to his team-mate’s second lap
joker, however – emerging side-by-side with the Pole before narrowly fending
him off – engine issues dropped the Audi driver to third, but next time out in
Norway, nothing would stand in Volland’s way.
Back at the scene of his breakthrough European
podium ten months earlier, the 23-year-old dominated, topping the timesheets in
every heat, his semi-final and the final to tally a maximum score.
Buoyed by that stellar performance, he was
firmly in the mix again at Höljes’ ‘Magic Weekend’ to snare second spot in the
post-heats ranking – denying Isaksætre a clean sweep of wins along the way –
but a scrappy last lap in challenging conditions in the semi-final dropped him
from first to third, and that in-turn restricted him to fifth place in the
final.
On home soil at the Estering, Volland could
manage no better than seventh during the heats, but battled back after getting
caught up in a first corner mêlée in his semi-final to cement a front
row grid slot for the final. Despite two instances of contact with Isaksætre,
he ended up third following post-race judicials to secure the same position in
the championship standings – making him the highest-placed returnee in 2024...
“The whole season was a bit up-and-down,”
reflected the Roth native. “In terms of raw pace, we were definitely right up
there, but the other guys had more experience than me and that clearly showed
in the overall results.
“I really didn’t expect to be as fast as I was
at the beginning, or to be able to match Damian and Espen. My lap times were good,
but my racecraft still wasn’t the best. I remember at Höljes, I was leading the
semi-final with a big gap behind, and then I made a mistake – so I definitely
wasn’t always clever enough...
“I learned a lot from working alongside such
strong drivers, though – particularly in terms of how to handle the first
corner, which is so important in rallycross – and the weekend in Norway was a
big confidence boost. We came quite close to winning in Portugal as well, but
after getting out of the joker ahead of Damian, my engine developed a small
problem that left me down-on-power so that was disappointing.
“This year, my aim is to perform the best I
can. I don’t know who else will be on the grid yet, but there are sure to be
some fast drivers as the level in the European Championship is always high. Some
of the tracks will be new to me again, but I know the car is quick – it’s
always a pleasure to drive the Audi – and I’ve got a really good team behind
me.
“My approach is to take everything race-by-race
and then see where we are at the end of the season, but the target has to be to
reach the podium in every round – and now I’ve got a taste for winning, I want
to win some more... I’m ready to go racing!”
Volland’s new team-mates for the forthcoming
campaign will be announced in due course.
Finland
Italy
Hungary