Sami-Matti Trogen drove himself to second place in World Rallycross Championships RX2 series, which was driven in France.
Sami-Matti again reached one boundary mark on his way to the top of rallycross, when the raise to the podium in Loheac, France was his careers first in RX2 series. The 16-year-olds great tune started already in Canadas race, where Trogen drove with a new car and achieved his careers first place in final, ending up in fifth place. After Canada it was time for two RX Academy races in Finland, in which both Trogen was first and raised to the lead of the series. The strong run continued in France.
- In Canada a new car waited for me, that immeadiately turned out to be trustworthy and fast. It raised my driving feeling and I got to finals in there. RX Academy races wins raised my self-confidence, those hit the spot.
Rallycross is world-wide in huge popularity. France isn’t doing an exception on this, when Loheac, a town of 600 inhabitants, was filled with tens of thousands of fans. Under the competition the streets of the village have a carnival atmosphere, when the drivers ride with convertibles in the middle of fans, news are changed and signatures are hot stuff. The love for rallycross is exhaling from the weekend.
- There was great atmosphere when driving around the fans. From this the race weekend really starts and the whole crew’s feelings rise when the streets are full of cheering people.
When the competition started, the focus was sharpened in the main thing, in driving. Behind Trogen’s good speed and succeess is a working team. Set Promotion put the car in th fight and planned a working tactics for the competition.
- After heats they checked that the car was still in the best function, and they made a succesful tire tactics for the race, I got good tires for the final.
After heats Trogen’s placement was fifth as in Canada, and he started from the second row for semifinal.
- The start was good, I got to the second place and drove to the finishing line behind Guillaume De-Ridder, who is in second place of the series, and everything went well.
Under the finals the atmosphere in the track got electrified, a tightly packed stand holded its breath and exploded to yelling while cars rushed to the track. Trogen got a bad start and fell to last place, and at that point some of the supporters were scratching their berets out of their heads and stomped it in Loheac’s sand, but then started Trogen’s show.
- I started the final from middle rows out track. The start was a bit bad and I fell to last place. In the next curve I passed two and began to push on the first drivers. Couple of drivers went then to jokerlap, so I continued the race behind the leader, Henrik Krogstad. During the last lap I went to joker and in the outcoming I saw that the leader Krogstad began to spin and I had to look which way his car is going to go. After that it became a hassle, there was three of us in a bundle. In that case De-Ridder tried to pass me from the inside but he was thrown to the sand, I managed to stay on the track and at the same thing we were already in the finish. It was a great feeling when the checkered flag wavered.
Now Trogen has driven five races in RX2 series. After a difficult start the following final places have been great for Trogen, who just drives his debut season with the four-wheel drive.
- It was a great weekend and my speed was good all the time. The starts were good at some places, but still need to be improved. A big thanks for my team, they did a exact work during the whole competition. I also send thanks for my supporters who came from Finland, now I got to serve them some excitements too, Trogen ends.
The last competition of the season will be driven in South Africa in November.
Finals results:
1) Oliver Eriksson Sweden
2) Sami-Matti Trogen
3) Guillaume De-Ridder Belgium
4) Conner Martell USA
5) Sondre Evjen Norway
6) Henrik Krogstad Norway