Chop. Loop. Penhold. Shakehand.
Do you have any idea what I’m talking about? Probably not. You thought you were going to read about rallycross on Sunday. You will. But first, let me tell you about a new passion in my life: ping-pong. Table tennis. I love it. I am really into it now and playing every day.
Of course, I had played a little bit when I was younger and watched some on television – usually at the Olympics when they are hitting the ball at crazy speed. But I’d never thought it could be so useful for me driving a car.
It might not make me go any faster, but I’m certain it’s going to be helping me with my hand-eye coordination, my reflexes and my focus. Table tennis is incredibly intense for really short bursts and you have to react in a flash – just like you do when the unexpected comes along in rallycross.
The only thing I’m not so keen on is people teaching me to spin. I don’t like spinning.
Spinning is something I will be working very hard to avoid in Germany this weekend. It’s vital that I keep everything clean in these races now. We have a good position at the top of the championship and we have to work and drive sensibly to improve the gap.
Is it sensible to jump up and down on the roof? You might not say so. And I would agree if I was on the supermarket car park. But when you’ve just won your third FIA World RX round of the season and your second in succession, it’s hard not to jump on the roof.
I might think twice about doing that again in Germany, though – I’ve just had to take the car to England where we had a new roof fitted!
After the race in France, the car went north and the rest of the team went east and drove the truck and bus straight over the border and into Germany. Knowing that the team was completely in control of everything was really good news for me. Pernilla and I planned a complete break last weekend, we wanted to just be at home and relaxing in Sweden and we managed that – it was really nice.
But you know me. One weekend off is enough!
I’m ready to go again now. And the next three rounds offer a lot of points in just four weeks. We have to be absolutely ready to grab those points and extend our lead in the world championship.
And it all starts in Buxtehude, Germany this weekend. I love the Estering track – it’s technical and there’s some nice gravel in there as well. I’ve really got high hopes for the whole PSRX team out there. And there’s no shortage of competition either – we will have 41 supercars competing.
And our Citroen DS3 Supercar is in great form right now. We did a test before France and this helped with the set-up and the suspension we’re using. Our chassis is good and it’s getting better all of the time!
And now, it’s back to the chop. Maybe followed by a loop. And I’ll be using the penhold. Or shakehand.
Okay, I will tell you: the chop and loop are table tennis shots and the penhold and shakedown are ways of holding the bat. Or paddle as I prefer to call it.
So, come on Germany. Let’s see what we can do.
Championship positions:
1 Petter Solberg 185pts
2 Reinis Nitiss 157pts
3 Toomas Heikkinen 147pts
4 Andreas Bakkerud 126pts
5 Anton Marklund 124pts
6 Timmy Hansen 118pts
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