Kristensson looks to the future

The Swedish driver has shown podium-challenging pace on all three ERC rounds he has contested this year, with second overall on the gravel of Rally Poland marking his best result to date.  

A puncture dropped Kristensson out of the frontrunning trio in Latvia and an off-road excursion proved costly at last month’s Barum Czech Rally Zlín, but the Hyundai i20 driver remains positive about his performances and has already begun working on his 2023 plans - which could include more ERC appearances. 

“I am working really hard at the moment so that we can try to take the next step,” Kristensson told FIAERC.com. “Of course, I would love to do a full season in the ERC - but the truth is that I don’t know yet what will be possible.

“I have had some good meetings and we have been discussing and planning a lot of things for next year, but right now the economic situation in Sweden and across the whole world - especially with the energy sector - is crazy. 

“I think a lot of companies will have quite a tough period in front of them,” he continued. “Nobody can say what will happen in one month, or even in six months. I have managed to open a lot of doors to take things forward next year, but it’s still 50/50 whether it’s going to work.”

Kristensson’s sporadic ERC commitments have been supplemented by further drives for his Kowax 2BRally team on regional events across Poland, the Czech Republic and back home in Sweden.

Having begun the year with plans to start just six rallies, the 31-year-old is now well into double figures - something he believes has also been key in his rapid development.

"The original plan in the beginning was two Swedish championship rallies, three ERC and one WRC," he explained. "It would have been a dream just to do six rallies without any troubles and maybe one overall victory. As it looks now, we will do 16 rallies and I have five overall victories!

“In the national rallies, the level is still very high and we are competing against people who have a lot of knowledge of the stages - but we are still performing really well. 

“It’s really helping me and, as you can see, when we come to the ERC rallies our pace is high and I am very, very happy with how everything is going.”