“You have to race the Dakar at least once!”
En bref
- 8 times FIA World Rallycross Champion, Johan Kristoffersson is the latest in a long line of very fast drivers looking to make the switch to rally raid. The most capped driver in his discipline, his last championship dates from this year - so we can conclude he is very much still at the top of his game.
- He was also the first person to win the Extreme E series with Molly Taylor in 2021, a feat that he repeated in 2023.
- He is quick on tarmac too, having won the Swedish Touring Car Championship in 2012 and 2018, as well as having taken 2 class wins at the Nurburgring 24h.
- Ola is another competitor whose first love is motorcycles and he started out competing in moto-x.
- He actually participated on the Dakar for the first time way back in 2006 alongside the Austrian driver Raphal Sperrer.
- Competing in WRC at Volkswagen Motorsport, his interest in rally raid was rekindled. Most of the staff had worked on the Dakar and continually regaled the Norwegian with tales from the world’s toughest motorsport event. In addition, the all-conquering Volkswagen Touareg was still in the VW workshop and Ola used to just stand and gaze at it, so fascinated was he by the car.
- In 2018 Ola decided it was time to make the switch to rally raid, except he needed to perfect his road book navigation. The solution - to enter rally raids in the motorcycle class. A period the Norwegian holds with special affection.
- While in this apprenticeship phase Ola was contacted by the man in charge of Red Bull’s Off-road junior team, Arnaud Duhamel who was looking for a co-driver for rising American star Mitch Guthrie.
- Without a drive for the 2024 Dakar Ola was recruited by Rui Carneiro for the 2024 season with a view to forming an experienced partnership for the Dakar. However their 25 Dakar didn’t go according to plan with technical problems with their car ruining any chance of a decent overall result.
Ambition
“Like everybody involved in motorsport I’ve always followed the Dakar and I have quite a few friends; Carlos Sainz, Sebastien Loeb, Mattias Ekstrom… who’ve moved out of their original speciality and who’ve encouraged me to have a go. Then this opportunity to drive a factory Polaris in Loeb’s team came up and so of course I said yes. As a professional racing driver you have to race the Dakar at least once! As far as my ambitions for the Dakar are concerned I think we’ll prioritise a finish over a result. Obviously we’ll try and do our best, I don’t want to be at the very bottom of the rankings but you need to gain experience for this kind of event. Especially as I haven’t actually driven the car yet, which is basically the one Heger used to win the Dakar last year. And then if it goes well why not continue. Rally raid is attracting a lot of interest at the moment both from media and the manufacturers and it looks like a good sport to be involved In.”
“Our 2025 Dakar was a bit of a disaster -and that’s putting it mildly. It was like the devil was in the car with us causing mischief! I had a couple of offers for the 2026 Dakar and after careful consideration I opted for Johan. Although he is a Dakar rookie there’s no question he knows how to drive a car. You don’t win that many races without being handy behind the steering wheel. The other thing that made me decide to co-drive for Johan is his ability to win championships. Winning races is one thing but you need a special mentality to win championships and I think he has a great future in rally-raid where getting the car to the finish is such a crucial part of the equation. There’s also the fact that we are both Scandinavian and share the same culture that should make our cohabitation a lot easier.”
