When it comes to endurance racing, one name that inevitably comes up is that of race driver Nicki Thiim. With two World Endurance Championship titles under his belt in 2016 and 2020, calling him experienced would be an understatement.
Observing drivers like Nicki Thiim ply their trade on race tracks around the world, it’s hard not to be captivated by their thoughtful driving style and their ability to keep a cool head even in the most pressured situations.
However, it hasn’t always been easy for Nicki to make the right and sensible choices. He talks about a youth where his career was marked by a wild driving style and accompanying issues. “In the past, I’ve always driven a bit recklessly. The speed has always been there, but the style has been a bit headless,” recounts Nicki Thiim. He goes on to explain how he experienced a turning point during his otherwise impressive early career and how he realized that there might be faster and more sensible ways for him to reach his goals. “I would say that around 2012 or 2013, I started figuring out how else I could do things. Before that, I had won the Danish Formula Ford Championship and the German Seat Leon Super Cup Championship, but it was still a bit reckless. But around that time, it clicked.”
Even though it’s been many years since Nicki Thiim, according to his own words, drove recklessly, the attitude still lingers a bit: “That’s where my motto comes from: “Go Hard or Go Home,” because that’s always been how I’ve driven, even though there’s now a bit more thought behind it. It’s the more mature racer who emerges, and in the two world championships I’ve won with Marco Sørensen, it’s been important to keep a level head.”
The whole premise of thinking more carefully hasn’t come naturally to Nicki. He’s received help and support in making better decisions on the track. He talks about how working with elite coach Tommy Schröter has been a great support in his self-improvement. “The collaboration with Tommy has gradually developed later on, where we started talking about some things and working on them. The first time was in 2009, and since then, we’ve always been able to complement each other. We’ve worked on both the mental and the visual aspects – you can always learn more, and I’ve benefited from good tips from his side.”
Since the collaboration with Tommy began, there has been particular focus on one element for Nicki Thiim. He explains that it has taken time, but today he feels that he largely masters many techniques. “Today, I’ve worked so much on everything that it’s ingrained and comes completely naturally. That’s where you want to be, where you do things very instinctively,” Nicki Thiim continues. “Another aspect is that you mature as a person and manage to keep calm in situations where things don’t go as they
should. It’s always in adversity where you make some stupid decisions. When things go well, everything runs instinctively, so you always have to focus on the difficult things.”
Precisely those difficult things are the focus of the Baseline Driver Training program. It’s about, just as Nicki mentions, getting a handle on the challenges you face as a race driver and working on them until the solution runs completely instinctively. “I think a program like Baseline Driver Training will especially support young race drivers to get things ingrained faster and help them understand that it’s important to think and not rush. Tommy has a lot of good ideas, and if you can do it and really implement it, then you can learn a lot.”
Author: Tommy Schröter
I am the founder and CEO Baseline Driver Training. Developed by racing drivers - for racing drivers.
