Super Trofeo Stories: Oliver Söderström

You don’t have to look that far to notice the latest Scandinavian boom in motorsport. Whether it’s on the Formula 1 career ladder, across the Pond in IndyCar or in the GT world, there is a new wave of talent from the north of Europe.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe has been a happy hunting ground for Scandinavian drivers in the past, with the likes of Dennis Lind, Frederik Schandorff (Denmark), Marcus Påverud and Magnus Gustavsen (Norway) all coming up through the ranks en route to careers in GT3.

This year, though, it is Sweden with the most representation among the Scandinavian countries with three drivers, all part of the Target Racing stable. Among them, touring car convert Calle Bergman and Hampus Ericsson – the younger brother of ex-F1 driver and Indy 500 winner Marcus.

Both have joined 2023 Lamborghini Young Driver Programme finalist Oliver Söderström, now in his second season of Super Trofeo Europe and aiming for the Pro title following a breakthrough maiden victory alongside his Danish team-mate Largim Ali at the backend of 2023.

Motorsport and cars are firmly ingrained in Söderström’s upbringing and heritage, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that he followed the already trodden path into the sport.

“I grew up in a car family, in fact we have been a road car dealing family since 1921 so we are over 100 years old,” says Söderström.
“And the passion for motorsport and cars started with my great grandfather who used to sell cars in the south of Sweden, and he also loved racing and he decided to sponsor a lot of good Swedish drivers at the time, because he used to think that racing was so connected to selling cars.
“He was good friends with Rudolf Caracciola and drivers like that of the time and he used to race with a lot of these kinds of drivers. So, you could say that the racing DNA has always been in our family.
“I was kind of brainwashed into following motorsport but at the beginning, I didn’t like it. I thought it was scary as hell! All the speed and the noise, it wasn’t so fun.
“But I got into it and started to enjoy it and thought ‘this is what I want to do’, and at the same time, I started watching F1 and remember seeing Alonso winning and immediately told my dad that I wanted to be a professional driver.

Söderström’s path to Lamborghini has been unique, if not somewhat bizarre, given the lack of presence in Swedish motorsport of the Sant’Agata Bolognese firm. Indeed, the first contact with Lamborghini was hardly even logical.

Having started karting late and only doing two seasons before switching to cars, Söderström then cut his teeth in his local touring car championship, the famous STCC.

“I had found that in junior single seaters, like in F4 which I did in NEZ and Germany, is really expensive and, even if you have the talent, that talent might not be enough to get you to the next stage.
“So, I thought to myself that ‘okay, maybe F1 is no longer possible’ and that maybe I have a limit to what I can achieve, which is fine, but I needed to race still.
“I had some sponsors who were not so interested in investing more in my F1 dreams because the results were not there, so they suggested going back to Sweden as maybe that was our level. All of a sudden, I started winning races and fighting for the championship in STCC
“Then, I went back to Sweden and raced in the touring car championship in the Junior category which, at the end of the season, awarded a prize for the best Junior. It was sponsored by Lamborghini Malmö and Stockholm, which I didn’t know.
“I was like: ‘cool, I get to drive a Lamborghini now!’
“So, I won the junior title and got a test drive in a Lamborghini Super Trofeo the following year, and it all kind of happened from there. We tested, had a good feeling and then got in touch with a team which went really well and put a deal together to race the championship in 2023.

Lamborghini dealerships sponsoring a touring car championship in Sweden doesn’t sound like a match necessarily made in heaven, but this chance prize was what Söderström needed to get back into European and international competition. Talk about the right place at the right time.

“I think it was a case of the local dealers being very interested in racing, and actually the guy who ran the programme used to be employed by my dad at the car dealership! So, he obviously was a good friend of the CEO of STCC, and they wanted to do something with Lamborghini customers in Sweden to bring them to the races.
“And if you bring a Lamborghini to a race, people will come!”

Teaming up with fellow rookie Ali at the start of the season in Paul Ricard last year, Söderström got up to speed quickly and, despite not fighting for the championship which was fought between VS Racing’s Mattia Michelotto and Gilles Stadsbader and Leipert Motorsport’s Brendon Leitch, the pair picked up a first podium finish at Valencia before taking the elusive maiden victory in Vallelunga.

“It was a learning year with me and Largim and we had the speed all year, but for some reason the full package wasn’t really there,” said Söderström. “We could see the speed was there from the beginning and finally everything fell into place at Valencia and then the victory was amazing.
“I think that was one of the most amazing feelings in my career, because Super Trofeo is still the highest-level championship I have ever raced in. Maybe it’s not the highest level in motorsport, but the racing is so competitive, and a lot of these drivers will do really well in GT3 as well.
“So it was like a miracle, something we didn’t believe could have happened a few years before.”

That victory in the final round of the 2023 season certainly gave Söderström and Ali the motivation to go one better in 2024, which started off with another victory at the opening race in Imola back in April.

Two more podiums have followed since and, after the unfortunate retirement of title rival Amaury Bonduel at Le Mans, the pair lead the Pro standings heading into the Nürburgring round at the end of July.

It’s a position that he’s not taking for granted.

“You don’t see so many Swedish drivers in endurance racing and I always wondered why that was,” reflects Söderström. “I think it’s a financial thing, because apart from a few drivers, we don’t have so much financial backing in Sweden.
“There’s [Beganovic] in F3 who has strong backing, but overall, it’s quite difficult to find the money to go racing. Of course, my goal is to become a professional, but I know that it’s so difficult; but I just love driving so I am not complaining at the moment.
“I was very lucky for people like Lamborghini Malmö and Stockholm actually, because without their sponsorship of the junior trophy, I don’t think I’d be here competing in Super Trofeo.”