Even with being a rookie in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters along with BMW stablemate Philipp Eng and Audi’s Robin Frijns this year, Joel Eriksson remains unphased under the current campaign, which kickstarts the second half this weekend at Brands Hatch.
The 3.908-km circuit is a challenge that the young Swede is looking forward to, after the imposing natures of both the Hungaroring and Circuit Park Zandvoort, which have hosted the last two race weekends.
“I think this might probably be the biggest challenge of the year for me,” admitted the BMW driver, who has scored points in half of the races so far.
“I have never been to Brands Hatch but, based on what the other drivers have told me, it’s a proper tough track. It’s fast, undulating, up and down, blind corners and little or no run-offs. It’s probably one of those tracks where it actually helps quite a lot to have been around before, and to add to that we have less practice time than usual this weekend, but I will certainly push as hard as I can.”
The 20-year-old is also looking forward to a weekend where risk could equal results for him, along with adding to the racing that the DTM has provided the fans with.
“It’s an old-school track, a bit like Zandvoort where we raced last time out, and that’s something I always enjoy,” admitted Eriksson, who currently has 27 points to his tally.
“It will be a lot of fun trying out Brands Hatch for the first time. I do have high expectations for the driving thrill. I hope I can be in the mix for points again this weekend, but I do think it will be a challenge and my first priority is to maximise practice and rack up the laps for qualifying.”