Johan Kristoffersson wasn't
exactly the favorite to win the Hell round of the FIA World
Rallycross Championship, specially after bruising his right foot,
but not only he overcame this but also showed that the Volkswagen
Polo GTI RX is the best car of the field during the final stages,
keeping him as the championship leader.
Qualifying was a nail-biting fight from
Q1 to Q4, and while Mattias Ekström dominated until Q3,
Andreas Bakkerud was the top qualifier with Ekström being
pipped to second while Petter Solberg was third, and injuries
combined with a Q4 race puncture hindered Johan Kristoffersson's
efforts to fourth place. The story of the qualifying was Timmy
Hansen's huge shunt in Q3 after contact with Solberg, which
demanded a monumentally quick job from the guys of Team
Peugeot-Hansen to rebuild the car ahead of Q4, and with a good
run the older Hansen was able to qualify for the semifinals in 12th.
The semifinal 1 started with most of
the field going to the Joker at the go as Andreas Bakkerud led the
group, with Sébastien Loeb leading Timur Timerzyanov in the
standard route.
After being in the worst end of the Lap
1 Joker, Solberg started a charge from last place and was eager to
pass Timerzyanov, but the Russian was in impressive form to defend
the third position until the line while Bakkerud and Loeb got first
and second in dominant fashion, and in the end we had the double
World Champion out of the final.
On semifinal 2 to even packs went
separate ways with an EKS 1-2 with Ekström and Reinis
Nitiss holding Ken Block in third while Kristoffersson was
watching them closely.
Once everybody made their Joker Laps,
Kristoffersson was in the lead with Ekström right behind and thanks
to Nitiss' inteference, Timmy Hansen avoided further battles to
defend his third position from Ken Block and then went to the final
as Kristoffersson and Ekström just ahead.
The final was a place of no one, and
with three cars for each route again, Bakkerud took the lead with
Loeb and Ekström behind. Unfortunately for Bakkerud, his Joker lap
wasn't good enough to hold Kristoffersson at bay, so he would have to
fight for the overtake.
The Loeb-Ekström battle and
Kristoffersson's pace were placing everything for the PSRX
Volkswagen driver, and so it was in the last lap when both guys
went to the Joker and Kristoffersson was with open road to power his
way to victory while Bakkerud came in second, unable to pose a
threat. Loeb still got the better end of the last lap mess after his
Joker and completed the podium leaving Ekström in fourth.
Kristoffersson streched the lead a
little after the Hell event, being now with 151 points against 143 of
Ekström and 134 of Solberg. PSRX Volkswagen is still the dominant
team with 285 points against 204 from Team Peugeot-Hansen.
In interview to Neil Cole,
Kristoffersson said how special was this victory: “I was a
little bit emotional to be able to win the semifinal and final
because I felt the right foot was really suffering after I bruised it
on the Friday, and when it was so tight between the semifinal and
final it was not the best feeling but it was really to fly the
Swedish high in Norway”
The action will be
back on July 2nd, when Kristoffersson, Ekström and the
Hansens race at home in Höljes, Sweden.
PHOTO: Johan Kristoffersson
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