Torstein Eriksen presents the challenges of competing in three countries

It may be the Central European Rally this weekend, but the Nordic region is still well-represented at Hyundai in the shape of Norwegians Andreas Mikkelsen and Torstein Eriksen, embarking on their fourth event of the 2024 season in the i20N Rally1.

Inaugurated in 2023, the CER – as it is known – is quite different from any other event as it spans three countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany) with asphalt stages and surfaces that are just as varied as you would expect from such a wide-ranging route.

For a co-driver, these constant changes – along with some long road sections – make a stressful job even harder, but luckily there are very few things that make the 34-year-old Eriksen lose his cool.

Asphalt may not be the natural home of Nordic crews, but Eriksen believes that experience of the car is almost as important than experience of the stages these days. “There’s a big benefit in feeling used to these crazy Rally1 cars,” he points out: “especially if the weather becomes uncertain, which is often the case at this time of year”.

These days, modern rally drivers have to cope with everything: the previous era of the asphalt or gravel specialist is gone. Nonetheless, Torstein points out that every crew is naturally more used to their home territory. “Try inviting European drivers onto some snowy mountain roads in Norway, and see how they get on against the local drivers!”, he jokes.

While there’s unlikely to be snow this weekend, the constantly-changing rhythm of the stages will be one of the biggest challenges. “You have to be focused on reading the notes with the right tempo according to the different styles of roads,” he says. “Some of the stages will be bumpy and a rough ride; others are much more about high speed. One of the key things is to adapt to the different grip levels and find exactly the right speed over the dirty sections.”

 It’s not just the competitive stages that are set to be tricky. There are some very long road sections on this event, and while the crew can in theory listen to music and podcasts to pass the time, Torstein never relaxes.

“For as long as I have my time card with me, I’m on full alert,” he points out. “I’m actually grateful for every kilometre of the road sections, as I need the time to go through all the information from the gravel crew and put it in my pace notes. But you can’t ever switch off when you’re in the car: not until you get to the hotel at night. If you miss a junction on a road section it can mean that you’re in a big rush for the next time control, so you always need to be ahead of the game – also because you never know when your driver might want to stop and change something on the car. If that happens, then you have to quickly calculate how long you can stop for. So the pressure is on!”

In rallying though, there’s always pressure: especially on what could be a big weekend for the whole team. Andreas and Torstein have an important role to play, with their exceptional consistency having netted a sixth place finish on all three events they have contested so far this year. But Torstein wants more. “I think we both will be happy if we will manage attack a bit more than the first two Tarmac events. To be honest, I start each event with no particular expectations. I always do my best, keep focused, do my job, then check the results in the evening. I don’t like to make predictions.”

What’s certain is that Andreas and Torstein already have championship-winning experience together from Rally2, and they bring this expertise to every event.

“I think our consistency comes from a high level of quality and not making many mistakes,” concludes Torstein. “Of course, it’s normal to have a few small offs here and there, but we tend to be able to fight back whenever that happens.”