Franz Zorn: “Unfortunately, generally not enough” / Ice Speedway GP

After a good 2023 season, Franz Zorn also started the 2024 season well. MC Strömsunds won the Swedish league and produced only one point in five races. In the final of the European Championship in Sanok, Zorn dropped only one point in his first run. From then on, the Austrian was able to remain unbeaten in five more races. On the second day of racing he crossed the finish line as the winner in six runs. After a total of twelve heats, Zorn had seven points more than Jimmy Olsén and was the ice skating champion for the third time.

The good progress of the season gave hope that we can be at the forefront again in the World Cup. But it was not as expected. Zorn: “It wasn’t our World Cup this time. But you still shouldn’t complain. Last year I was the runner-up in the World Championship and the European Champion, and I would like to go one better at the World Cup. But you can also see that everything should to be fair, because the level of Western drivers has increased a lot. I think because the Russians are not there, everyone has a chance and everyone is happy. This is really a shame for our Russian colleagues, but things are going on in Russia and here too.

Franz Zorn completed four World Championship races with 39 points and finished eighth in the middle of the standings. “Unfortunately, it was generally not enough in Inzell and Heerenveen,” said the Austrian, “I didn’t get the right race in two weekends. The start was very good here in Heerenveen, but the ice was very difficult to drive. In Inzell we had a small error in the system, you have time just from race to race and you can’t try anything at home because you can’t move the bike on the pavement to try something.”

Even if Zorn is disappointed with the way the World Cup went, there were also successes to consider, as he himself emphasizes: “The World Cup is over, it didn’t go well. And the European Championship I have the title and everything worked like clockwork. And if it would such a job in Inzell and here, it would look different. A week after the European Championships for Inzell, three weeks were not profitable either. When you come home from the European Championships, the water may have gathered somewhere and the material will stop. But I still congratulate Max , he was already a strong opponent in the European Championship and he was very fast there.”