The first ever Swedish E-Kart Championship took place at the GTR Motorpark (Green Track Resort) in Eskilstuna over the weekend to crown the 2022 champions in the Rotax E20 Junior and Senior classes, Joel Bergström and Jesper Sjöberg respectively, where the competitors battled for the victory in some torrential and windy conditions at times during the racing. The debut of the national E-Kart event was a new addition to the program at the annual Prince Carl Philip’s Racing Trophy and Swedish Rotax MAX Challenge series.
Following a successful demonstration at the annual event in 2021 with Prince Carl Philip himself testing the Rotax E20 E-Kart, the Rotax team returned to the Eskilstuna venue for the first Swedish E-Kart Championship from August 26-28.
27 drivers from various levels of experience and classes did not lose any of their enthusiasm and excitement although the weather conditions can only be described as almost monsoon at times. The professionalism and teamwork of the support crews also experiencing this future alternative to karting for the first time only added to this.
Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, who races the Porsche Sprint Challenge Scandinavia this season, has competed in the Rotax DD2 Masters category on the past two occasions at the GTR Motorpark. This time around, he participated in the Rotax E20 Senior and was impressed by the balance and even more by the torque of the E-Powertrain, saying “Awesome! I felt the full effect immediately.” He enjoyed the opportunity to drive the Rotax E20 once again in the competition, adding “this is a new type of kart for everyone and they are all racing with the same equal units, so it’s quite interesting to see how quickly they adapt to this in racing.”
It was also the first time he has been involved in organising a karting event with Swedish Championship status too; while also celebrating the tenth edition of his own initiative to support the future development of young Swedish karters in motorsport.
The Swedish E-Kart winners for 2022, Joel Bergström in Junior E20 and Jesper Sjöberg in Senior E20, were crowned champions on Sunday afternoon and also awarded their personal invitation to join the grid at the end of season Rotax racing highlight – the RMC Grand Finals in Portimao, Portugal this November 19-26. Both are highly-competitive and experienced, and now look forward to representing Team Sweden when they take on the rest of the world. All the Rotax E-Kart podium place-getters received spectacular prizes for their outstanding performance, including their exclusive racing-inspired wristwatch from partner Porsche Sweden.
The promoter of the Prince Carl Philip’s Racing Trophy, Thomas Johansson, was extremely satisfied with the success of the first ever Swedish E-Kart Championship. “As an event – it was fantastic! Prince Carl Philip was very pleased with everything. The competitors were very enthusiastic and happy with this brand new experience, plus the interest over the weekend and feedback I have received from so many people has been overwhelming,” he commented. “It is really a world-class setup from Rotax with all the awnings and support, the preparation of the karts and the way they ensure everyone has the information they need in the briefings, providing data and advice, and explaining the safety aspects.”
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Following the draw of the karts, the testing was amazing on Friday and also Saturday was a great day of competition with racing under lights too. Unfortunately, we had heavy rainfall in the evening, but the team at GTR Motorpark made sure it as possible to complete all the finals.
“We absolutely have to continue with this for the future of the sport, especially when I think about the way electric vehicles are now being introduced into motorsport too. For me, Rotax is the ‘Porsche of karting’ with a similar approach to the manufacturer who is putting a lot of effort into their combustion engines and E-fuel alternatives,” Johansson continued.
Steven Chapman, the Rotax E-Kart Team Manager, was very satisfied with the interest and success of the Rotax E20 E-Karts “I was in close contact with our Swedish Rotax distributor, Radne, and the race organiser of the the Prince Carl Philip’s Racing Trophy over the last 12 months and also visited GTR (Green Track Resort) which is the perfect match for us with its vision to be a pioneer of ‘green’ motorsport.”.
“It was a pleasure and privilege to be part of such a fantastic event. There was a mix of karting experience within the field, from hobby drivers to International racers.It’s interesting how the understanding of this new technology develops for the drivers, mechanics and parents as the week progresses. They learn about the karts using data, information and facts we provide to help build their confidence in electric technology. Everyone loves how equal the performance is between the karts. We had half the senior grid within 0.08 seconds in qualifying.. We also have low noise and for example in Sweden, we minimised emissions using a Battery Box power storage unit (peak shaving) that was charged from the normal grid over 24 hours and draw the power we needed for the karts during the day.”
Junior Swedish E-Kart Championship
1st – Joel Bergström
2nd – Sebastian Svensson
3rd – Hampus Varis
Senior Swedish E-Kart Championship
1st – Jesper Sjöberg
2nd – Julle Ljungdahl
3rd – Victor Sundberg
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