Let’s just start by saying what a beautiful track and facility this is. I was here three years ago as a chairman for LSOR and promised myself I had to race here one day. And I was not disappointed—the track held up great, was a lot of fun, and the organization of the event was perfect. The track was changed a little bit since last time: they remade the left part of the track, removed one jump, and added some more curvy sections. It’s a track that has a very nice flow to it, though maybe it could use one or two more jumps to mix it up.

This was my first Euros without my wife Linda; she decided she has seen me wrench enough at these events. Usually, I have been very unlucky with a lot of things, resulting in late-night wrenching. Would that be different this time around with a new car and a whole team behind me? I arrived on Saturday, which was nice because it gave me an extra day on Sunday to chill and talk to people. I have to remind myself to do that again next time. I was staying at a hotel in the nearby city of Třebíč, which has a very nice town square.

We had controlled practice on Monday and Tuesday, which was all about learning the track. I didn’t make too many changes to the car, but I tried many different tires. The go-to tires had been picked to be GRP S1 or S3 before the event, so I had four sets of those, but I also brought some MCD XCross from Fehring last year. It turned out quickly that the XCross was definitely the best tire. Not only did they last longer—as the GRP tires were almost gone after 10 minutes—but I also thought they had the best grip.

After the practice on Monday we had reseeding, and I placed P19 after the first day, keeping my place in the second-highest heat. This was exactly where I wanted to be, so it was a good start.

On Monday evening VRModelsport hosted a nice party for the team, it was really nice to meet everyone and also taste some interesting stuff from France.

Tuesday evening the Swedish team consisting of nine drivers this year had a a barbecue party.

Concerned about bad weather and wanting the schedule to run smoothly, the race management decided to throw in a qualifier on Wednesday already and only have one timed practice. Since we had already done the reseeding on Monday, this was a good compromise. The plan was to run four qualifiers: one on Wednesday, two on Thursday, and the last on Friday. With a stacked field of 150 drivers across three classes, you really have to plan tightly to get this to run smoothly.

The qualifier went great. I didn’t need any marshaling, and even though there was still room for improvement, I managed to get a P8 from that round. This was a great start, which was exactly what I was looking for. I don’t think I have ever placed in the top ten during a practice or qualifier at the Euros before, so this was already above my expectations.

Wednesday evening was the traditional opening ceremony, which I really like. Representing your country and having all 150 drivers on the infield really shows what a big event this is. It feels special every time. I know many racers think this is boring, and maybe it is if you’re a professional and do this multiple times every season. But I only do it once in a while, and walking in there with my countrymen and seeing everybody else representing their countries is a great thing.

We got rain during Wednesday night, which changed the track quite a lot. The start was postponed an hour while sawdust was being spread on the worst parts. The morning session run by Short Course had it a little bit rougher. By the time it was our turn, the track was completely dry, but the grip was very different, and I didn’t put together any good qualifiers during that day while trying different setups and tires. I placed around position twenty, which was still okay since I had my first good run, putting me comfortably in the quarter finals.

For the last qualifier on Friday, I chose to test some old GRP S5s. I knew I couldn’t really improve my position enough to go directly into the semis, so I thought I could give it a try. But that was the worst tire ever: no grip and completely undriveable. I was thinking of just driving into the pits, but I decided to just hang out on the track for "practice."
In the end, I ended up in P16 after the qualifiers. This is by far my best position yet and put me in pole position for the quarter-final. I’m very happy with this result, and maybe I could have done something to get directly into the semis, but I don’t think so.
Quarter final B was the second-to-last race of the day, and I was feeling good. I had rebuilt my diffs and put on new MCD XCross mediums, which I knew were going to work out great.

The car felt great during the warm-up laps. I got away to a great clean start, and built a small gap to number two after a couple of minutes. I started to increase the gap just slightly and felt great. The car reacted just as I wanted, and my driving was on point. During the first few minutes, I also set the fastest lap of the race. But then I got caught by a pipe at about the 7-minute mark out of 15. I started feeling pressure from behind and made another mistake, which cost a lot of time since the marshal had to wait for many cars to pass. But then I got back into the flow again, started gaining ground, and got up to third place which I unfortunately didn’t know, so I kept pushing. With one minute left, I rolled on a jump, got passed, and ended up in fourth place. If I had only dialed it down a little to drive it home, I would have made it to the semi.  

This was one of the biggest disappointments in my RC career. I had a stated goal for myself to advance to the semis. This time everything felt great; I had zero issues with my Phoenix car. It was so reliable and felt great from the first day. My RV Racing 305 Pro engine worked great in the heat and delivered the raw power needed when many had major engine problems. I qualified into a great position, and I drove well. But then it all fell apart. Back in Sweden, I drive with much more calm and play it smart; as soon as I get to the Euros, I push harder and make stupid mistakes. It’s not like me, but I guess this is where I need to improve, maybe I just put too much pressure on myself. I know I have the speed to be up there in the top 15, and in a semi, anything can happen. One of the guys from my quarter who passed me on my first mistake managed to get into the main final, showing that anything is possible.

Now, a couple of weeks later, I have of course put some distance to it, but it still hurts thinking about it and what could have been. Racing in a semi with all the best is still a goal I have for the future, and I hope it's something I will achieve one day.

I will not race at the Euros next year in Sonseca, Spain is just too far away for us up in Northern Europe. So let’s see when the next opportunity arises.

Thanks to the host organization, EFRA, and everyone who made this a great Euros. I also want to congratulate all the drivers in the finals, you’re all winners. And finally, just a big hug to the whole Large Scale family in Europe (and even Australia), this is what truly makes these events special!