Pal Virik Nilsen has today confirmed that he and Team Australia will not be competing at the Chinese round of the 2019 X-Cat World Championship due to take place in Shanghai in early November.

In a conversation he had with his long-time friend Chris Davies, the Norwegian racer spoke about his ongoing battle with cancer of the pharynx:

After several visits to my Doctor and hospital check-up’s in Norway, sadly enough about a month ago I was diagnosed with cancer.

To get that ‘news’ is just so hard and then to tell all those people around you is both mentally and physically tough.

I am now getting radiation treatment in Oslo and chemotherapy for the next six weeks.

The specialists have given me a positive prognosis which is good, but it will be an autumn like no other autumn I have ever had. It might sound like a cliché, but this is one race I must win, and I want to thank everyone who supports me during this period.

The Norwegian racer had made an excellent start to the 2019 X-Cat World Championship, with a podium place in Stresa, Italy but now Team manager Lars Inge Graver has said that the teams only focus now is to support Pal to win this battle:

For us there was no option to race in China with another pilot.

We now look forward to a great comeback at the final round in Dubai. Our main goal there will be to see that Pal is back in the Blue Roo’s cockpit again.

Pål Virik Nilsen – Racer, Author and Instructor