Pictures courtesy: www.rallycrossrx.com
Johan Kristoffersson has won the opening round of the World Rallycross Championship in Portugal for the newly entered Volkswagen Team Sweden Polo RX Supercar. Reigning World RX Champion, Petter Solberg finished 2nd for PSRX while Timmy Hansen finished 3rd for Team Peugeot-Hansen.
On a weekend where the weather changed at the snap of a finger at the Montelegre RX track in Portugal, both winners of their respective semi-final rounds, Solberg and Kristoffersson lined up on the front row for the six-car Supercar Final. Behind them were Timmy Hansen, Andreas Bakkerud, Davy Jeanney and PG Andersson.
Off the line bolted Kristoffersson and was awarded with the first Monster Energy Super Charge Award of the year. The weekend showed that taking the joker on the first lap was key to victory, all but Solberg and Hansen, dived into the Joker lap while the wet conditions left all the cars to slip and slide. Solberg and Hansen tried their best to maintain the 3 seconds over the Jokered pack at the back, Hansen dived into the Joker on the 4th lap, while unwell Solberg, who was running a high fever managed to joker on the 5th lap of the 6 lap race. Unfortunately for the reigning World RX champion, Kristoffersson was not far behind and Solberg who at the end of his joker was behind Kistoffersson’s Volkswagen Polo though Solberg did manage to come out ahead of Hansen who was struggling as he lost his power steering mid race. Kristoffersson crossed the finish line first with Solberg charging in 2nd behind him and Hansen held on to his 3rd place in front of his new team mate Davy Jeaney inches behind him.
Andreas Bakkerud completed the top 5 for the weekend for Ford Olsberg MSE team. PG Andersson did not finish the race due to a collision with Bakkerud which damaged his car enough to for him to retire from the race.
“I am so, so happy,” beamed Kristoffersson, “I nearly stalled the engine on the start line and the whole circuit was unbelievably slippery but I drove a clean race. I couldn’t see out of the side windows so it was more about survival than actual racing. I want to say a big, big thank you to Volkswagen Sweden and to my entire team who have done a fantastic job over the past few months. They have worked very hard to build this car which has been working well all weekend. It’s the best possible start to the season.”
Second placed Solberg, who won last year’s race in Portugal, added: “It is very important to have a good first race - consistency is as important as winning races in rally cross. I’ve not been feeling well this weekend and then I lost my gear lever in the final so it certainly wasn’t easy but I’m happy with second. Johan [Kristoffersson] has done a very good job this weekend.”
“The final was like driving on soap, there was no grip and then I lost my power steering – my arms are so tired now,” explained 22-year-old Hansen. “I’m really happy with the car, it’s very quick but it’s new so we need to make some small changes before our next race. Overall, it’s been a great start to the year and I’m really happy that both I and Davy got to the final.”
Krisztian Szabo, a former European Autocross Champion, took the first Super1600 victory of the season at the wheel of his Skoda Fabia. Frenchman Andrea Dubourg secured the runners-up spot while Latvia’s Janis Baumanis took third.
Kevin Eriksson, 2014 RX Lites Champion picked up where he left off last season with four heat wins and a victory in the all-important final making it a perfect weekend for Ericksson. Kevin Hansen – younger brother of Timmy - finished second, while Joachim Hvaal took the third podium spot. Former European Rally Champion Krzysztof Holowczyc finished fifth on his rallycross debut.
The RX party now moves to Hockenheim, Germany for Round 2 to be held from May 1-3, 2015. The final races of every Sunday of every race weekend will be broadcasted live on www.rallycrossrx.com/livestream for free every race weekend.
FIA WORLD RX DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Pos
Drivers
Car
Points
1st
Petter Solberg
Citroen DS3
27
2nd
Johan Kristoffersson
Volkswagen Polo
3rd
Timmy Hansen
Peugeot 208
24
4th
Andreas Bakkerud
Ford Fiesta ST
21
5th
Davy Jeanney
16
6th
Mattias Ekström
Audi S1
15
7th
Per Gunnar Andersson
8th
Toomas Heikkinen
14
9th
Robin Larsson
9
10th
Timur Timirzyanov
Ford Fiesta
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