World Rallycross
He started out in the RX Lites Cup before progressing to the European Rallycross Championship. He made his debut in the World Rallycross Championship racing at RX Argentina in 2014. Since 2016 he has been a full time driver on the Supercar grid where he burst onto the scene with Olsbergs MSE before signing for MJP Racing this season.
He has also competed in Global Rallycross and RallyX On Ice.
He has one WRX win to his name (World RX of Germany 2016) and is remembered for THAT move, ‘Round The Outside’, at Estering last season.
These are his Quick 10 questions and he is……Kevin Eriksson.
1. What is your favourite circuit and why?
My personal favorite track is the more old school type RX track and to name 2 Montalegre and Estering. There’s more flat out and sideways action and that’s a lot more fun to drive if you ask me
2. Who is/was your racing idol?
Since I grew up in paddocks in both Rally and Rallycross whatching my father race I obviously looked up to him a lot and still is but another driver I always enjoyed is Kimi Raikkonen, for just being himself.
3. Who would you regard as your toughest opponent?
During the beginning of my career I had a lot of good battles with my namesake Kevin Hansen. Now we’re both in the top tier of RX and racing against guys like Ekstrom, Solberg, Loeb so I would say that those more experienced guys are the toughest at the moment.
4. Considering racers of all time, you are a team principal and money is no object. Which two racers would you have in your team?
If I would be looking at results and making the choice I would go for Michael Schumacher and Sebastien Loeb for obvious reasons. Good mix of disciplines and a lot of championships.
But back to this day I would go for youth and my little brother Oliver Eriksson and Mitchell DeJong.
5. If you could invite four famous people to dinner (past and present), who would you invite?
Hard question…. I would invite LeBron James, Zlatan Ibrahimovic just because I’m a big fan of them and their sports as well as Hmmm… Eminem and Michael Jackson because I like their music. This dinner wouldn’t last very long I guess, haha
6. Personal racing number? What is it and the reason behind it?
My number is 96 and it’s a real simple reason behind it. I’ve never really been the number guy but when I started with RX you needed to have a personal number so I just went with the year I was born. I also liked 96 because it’s say 96 if you look both from the front and back
7. What is the best race you have been involved in?
My best race so far during my career must be World RX of Estering last year where I grabbed my first World RX victory and did the Round the outside move around the guys in the first corner.
8. Is there a race or series you have not competed in, that you would like to or had wanted to?
I have always wanted to try one of the 4wd 900hp Pro 4 trucks they race over in the US. Those trucks looks like a lot of fun.
9. How did you get into motor racing? What ignited that spark?
My whole family have been into different types of Motorsport but the biggest influence was still my dad since he raced in high level in both Rally and Rallycross as I grew up.
10. What is the best advice in racing you have been given?
Oh there’s been a lot but the most recent one was connected to tennis and goes like this. “There’s only one ball and that’s the one your playing right now” which means that whatever happened in the heat before you need to forget that and focus on the next.
I would like to thank Kevin for taking the time out from his busy WRX schedule to answer these Quick 10 questions and wish him all the best for the rest of the season. Thanks also to Max Pucher at MJP Racing for making this interview possible.
Neil Simmons
Twitter: @world_racing
Images courtesy of MJP Racing