Robert Dahlgren: “It’s going to be a great challenge”
Volvo Polestar Racing have confirmed that 34-year-old Swede Robert Dahlgren will be joining Scott McLaughlin for the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship, as the Swedish manufacturer runs a pair of Volvo S60s in Australia’s top motorsport series this year, and we caught up with him to talk about his biggest challenge to date.
Dahlgren, who’s just moved to Australia to prepare for the challenge of driving Volvo Polestar’s, formerly Garry Rogers Motorsport’s, new Volvo S60 in the Championship, will take on an all-new experience, racing in a more powerful car than the V6-powered S60 silhouette he’s driven in the past two years in Sweden, or the Super 2000-specification Volvo C30 he drove in the Swedish and World Touring Car Championships prior to that.
TouringCarTimes: How fast has this happened. How much time will you get with the car and what tracks do you actually know out there?
Dahlgren: It has been crazy, and everything’s happened so fast. In the World Touring Cars it happened quite fast as well, but I knew the car I was going to be racing with, so I knew the car inside and out, and it was just new tracks, but this is a different level.
I have done a track day in Sydney Motorsport Park, about ten laps in a road car, and that’s about it, so all the tracks are new. Every track in the World Touring Cars was new for me as well except for Donington Park, but with a brand new car as well, to say the least, I have a daunting challenge ahead of me. It’s a lot to take in, especially as we’re quite restricted on testing.
TcT: What are your expectations of the car, given what you know of the Championship?
RD: It’s difficult to say before I’ve been in the car to say what it’s going to be like. It’s a racing car, it has a lot of power, and you need to go fast around corners. At the end of the day, when you get down to it, yes, it’ll be a big difference, but it will still be a racing car. I think from a lot of things I’ve learned and done in the past, I can bring something to the table, as I have confidence from the team and from Volvo to do this.
I’m grateful to them that I got the opportunity, and it’s a Championship I’ve been looking at for quite a while. I went to see a race back in 2006 up in Darwin, and I’ve always admired the Championship as it’s close racing, and I think it’s what a Championship should be like, a lot of close racing and overtaking.
TcT: Following on from Alex Prémat for the last two years, and with Maro Engel also racing last year, you’re only the third European driver to race full-time in the V8 Supercars, and the only one confirmed for this season so far. Is that something you’ve thought about at all as to how you’re going to watched from both Europe and within Australia?
RD: I never thought about it like that. It’s an interesting fact, but it’s nothing I’ve thought about. It’s still racing, and if the racing’s hard, I just need to drive hard, it’s as simple as that. It’s nothing different to anywhere else – you drive to within the rules and race hard, and that’s something I’m looking forward to.
TcT: When you first heard that Volvo were going to do V8 Supercars, what were your thoughts and how did you get considered? Was there an in-fight between yourself and Thed (Björk) and Fredrik (Ekblom) as to who gets to go?
RD: When I heard (that Volvo were going to the V8 Supercars) I was delighted, as I really think it’s a fantastic championship, and as I’ve been following the Championship I was just delighted that they were going to do it, and I just had my fingers crossed that I was going to get the opportunity.
I never tried to force myself into the position. In my opinion, if I deserved it, I’d get the chance, and I didn’t know that they were going to bring in a Swedish driver or not, but when I heard they were thinking of bringing in a Swedish driver I thought I might get the chance.
TcT: Obviously to race in V8 Supercars, it’s not just about the tracks and the car, it’s a big personal change as well, as you have to move out there to race. How are you finding that?
RD: Because it was a very late call, everything just happened so fast, and we just packed our things basically and came over here. It is a big change, but so far so good. The whole family has absolutely loved it, and so far it’s been just like a holiday, and I think it will work out very well.
The kids haven’t been used to moving, but my wife has been with me since we were living in England and she knows what it’s all about, and if everything works out well as it’s been so far, I’m sure we’ll love it.
I absolutely love the country, I’ve been here a couple of times. I’ve raced in Australia twice before in karting in ’95 and ’96, and since then I’ve had great experiences. When I got the chance to come over here with the Volvo S60 Polestar car last year, everything just lived up to all the expectations I’ve got.
TcT: What are your expectations of what Volvo can do in their first year in the V8 Supercars Championship?
RD: I think Volvo will do very well. It’s a great team, the boys at GRM are just fantastic guys, I’ve met them now a couple of times and they’re really switched on. The engineers are really good and the mechanics are really good, and looking just at what Scott (McLaughlin) did last year, they did a fantastic job.
Mattias (Evensson) at Polestar, who’s developing the engine, he’s also extremely good, just looking at what he did with the engines for World Touring Cars. Alright, now it’s a V8 engine, but we have the people to do the job. It’s obviously a race against the clock to get everything in place, and get the reliability in there as well, together with the speed. I think it’ll be a strong package. If the package will be strong enough to be up the front, it’s too early to say, but we definitely have the people to do it.
TcT: Which circuit are you most looking forward to, and how are you preparing for the challenge of all these new circuits?
RD: Bathurst is a simple answer, but just as when I did World Touring Cars, I love going to new tracks. Just going to a new track is a challenge in itself, because it puts your driving skills and analytical ability to the test, as you don’t just have to learn the track but you have to master it as well, which are two completely different things.
I know it’s going to be a great challenge, especially against the guys who’ve been in the Championship for a long time who know the tracks, and their engineers know the tracks…so I’m glad I’m coming into a team with experience with guys know the tracks and the Championship, and it’ll be more up to me to get it up to speed.
Just the first race, when we go to Clipsal will be a challenge. I’ve been to Macau, but Clipsal will be absolutely fantastic, and it’ll be a very steep learning curve for me. I spoke to Scotty (McLaughlin) yesterday, and he said I’ll have a big challenge straight away as Clipsal is one of the toughest races we’ll have all year, and you’ve got that as your first one, that’ll be interesting, and he was just laughing, so I guess that means something!
I’ve tried to prepare myself as much as I can. I’ve watched all the races from last year, I’ve gone through all the data logs, I’ve spoken to Scotty, I’ve spoken to the mechanics, and everybody has been very helpful so they’ve given me all the tools I need to get up to speed, so now I’m really looking forward to getting into the car and taking a crack at it.
