Volland celebrates ‘unexpected’ second victory in Euro RX3

Having finished third in the overall classification last year in his maiden full campaign in the FIA European Rallycross Championship, Volland is targeting a title tilt in 2024. In heat one at Höljes, he had to give best to fellow Audi driver Jõao Ribeiro following contact between the pair shortly after the start, and in heat two, he had no answer for a hard-charging Balázs Körmöczi – but the remaining two heats yielded a brace of race wins.

That secured the Volland Racing ace second in the intermediate ranking – tied on points with top qualifier Ribeiro – which he converted into a convincing victory in the first of the two semi-finals.

Volland duly lined up on pole position for the all-important final, but a technical issue as he was sat on the grid prompted a delayed start. After getting away well at the second time of asking, the 23-year-old mastered the torrential conditions and fended off an early challenge from Körmöczi, going on to take the chequered flag more than two-and-a-half seconds ahead of his nearest pursuer – despite completing two joker laps along the way!

His commanding performance means Volland holds a four-point advantage over Ribeiro at the summit of the championship standings travelling next to Nyirád in Hungary – where last year, he came out-of-the-blocks absolutely flying...

“It was a very tricky start to the final,” the Roth native acknowledged. “I knew pole was not the best place to begin in the wet conditions, and then we also had a small problem on the grid. That meant I couldn’t properly concentrate on the lights and made a false start. Luckily, I was able to re-start the car, and from that stage on the race went well but I certainly wasn’t expecting to take the chequered flag first after all of that!”