Ludvig Hunsbedt to retire at the end of the year

[Peter S]

Norwegian Rallycross Superstar, Ludvig Hunsbedt has announced that he will retire from the sport at the end of the 2003 European Rallycross Season. This is sad news for Rallycross fans.

[Stevie A]

Sad news...without a doubt. He's been the most flamboyant and entertainig driver of recent years. Shame he couldn't have retired after an appearance at the GP. I wonder if his retirement has anything to do with his awful bad luck throughout this year. I presume his car is now sold then, and what about his sponsorship with Castrol...didn't that have another 2 years to run?

[Deerhunter]

Yes, really sad news!
But on the other hand, he can sell his new avon tires perhaps to Eklund???

Regards,
Mike
http://drive.to/eklund

[Cryos]

Sad news indeed to see one of the great men of rallycross take a seat in the armchair rather than the race seat. I might seem cocky in what i say next but It is for the good of the sport, like in wrc(sorry to compair) where Tommi Makinen will retire, however drivers like loeb, Martin and solberg all are fast becoming the sports number 1 men.

In rallycross its nearly the same, with retirements schedueld in the irish and british champs brings gloom to the sport hopefully some fresh faces like chris evans (exept not the micra, as john mccluskey said in our interview "Its hard to Justify that amount of money spent in the class *Wonder when Peter G and Peter S will Put it on* HINT HINT )

Doom and gloom initialy but thinks always work out for the good

[Peter S]

Hunsbedts retirement is all part of the current change of eras in Rallycross. European rallycross has now entered an exciting period with many new and younger drivers entering the sport.

Sverre Isachsen, Morten Bermingrud and Per Johansson are now regarded as the future and i belive that not so long from now these three will reach the top of Division 1 and take it onto the next level. This will include an influx of drivers from Norway who indicate they are going to graduate out of Supernational into Division 1. Already Norwegian star Pelle Erland has indicated that he will graduated. Tom Einar Aasereud will make a comeback next year and Norway already has Atle Bjorklund at the wheel of the ex Iverson Ford Focus. Add in Tommy Nodland who made his debut as Lindefjells team mate in Norway last time out and Harold Sachweh who also owns the ex Opland Mitsubishi Lancer and this is all pointing to an exciting future, in particular for Norway.

Although Hunsbedt is still only 43 years old so he had plenty of time left, but i guess his buisness needs a lot of attention now and it seems that he has maybe got tired of all the travelling.

He said to me in Holland that there is just to many races for him to do now and that was the reason he gave that he wont come to GP at Croft.

As for the Castrol deal then yes that was for two years and should have ended at the end of 2004, but nothing is ever set in stone, but that has nothing at all to do with it. I hope Luvdig signs off with two wins in Poland and Germany. but he will still be a huge miss as he is a great personality and big presence in the rallycross world.

[Barrie]

Hope the young drivers do stay in the sport. I can remember Ranternan, Lahteenmaki, Rennison, Lestander, all being the future of the sport, none of them compete now. Saying that the cost of rallycross compared to 10 , 15 years ago has definately come down, becoming more attractive for the young driver.

[Peter S]

it looks like Norway could have a lot of drivers in division 1 next year. Maybe 5 more. Jussi Pinomaki (leader in division 2) from Finland is only 25 and he has a big future before him. It will be interesting to see his career progress as he is an ex forumula 3 driver. So much talent which Rallycross appreciates.

The supernational class in Norway is starting to produce top quality drivers and they all want to go into division 1 due to the awesome tv coverage that the European series gets in scandenavia