Rydell: The WTCC hunger remains

FIA World Touring Car Championship returnee Rickard Rydell says he has lost none of his hunger as he prepares for an exciting 2015 campaign in a NIKA Racing Honda Civic WTCC.

Rydell, 47, last embarked on a full WTCC season in 2009 and only raced twice in 2014. However, he insists his appetite for the World Touring Car Championship remains although he’s keeping his ambitions in check, at least for now.

“It will be really good to do a full season again and the programme looks very good,” said the Swede. “I don’t expect to win the championship but if I can be competitive and achieve some podiums then I will be happy. Gabriele Tarquini has proved you can be a little bit older than the other drivers and still be competitive. It’s more about the motivation from yourself. I train between four and seven times a week. Of course you lose a bit of reaction time with age but I think experience can compensate that and I am very fit.”

He continued: “When you were younger you had the hunger to win and nothing else but I still really enjoy the racing now and feel very motivated to be there again. In that way I am still hungry for a result. That doesn’t change. I was the same when I was five years old as my older brother keeps telling me. If you are competitive from a young age it stays like that.”

Rydell, a five-time WTCC winner, is due to test his NIKA Racing Honda Civic WTCC at the end of January ahead of the season getting underway in Argentina from 6-8 March.