The PSRX Volkswagen guys were
focused on capitalizing into Mattias Ekström's absence from
the FIA World Rallycross Championship due to commitments with
DTM, but the rest of the competitors were also looking for an upset.
In the end the VW Polo GTI of Johan Kristoffersson prevailed
at Höljes, being not only a home win for the Swede, but also
his third win in the season out of seven events.
PSRX Volkswagen kept their good
qualifying form and made a 1-2 with Johan Kristoffersson and Petter
Solberg, although Sébastien Loeb and Andreas Bakkerud
posed quite a threat to the pair of Polo GTI RX, ending the
qualifying in third and fourth. The surprise of the day was the
absence of EKS Audi S1 RX in the top 12 as Toomas Heikkinen
missed it by little and Per-Gunnar Andersson, substitute of
Mattias Ekström, wasn't as near as competitive to go to the
semifinals.
On the first semifinal Kristoffersson
imposed his power and took and early lead into Loeb, starting to pull
off a gap to the French driver.
Kristoffersson and Loeb soon just
managed to keep their positions as their pace was much higher than
the rest of the pack, and seeing no opportunity for a fight, Loeb
settled for second while seeing Kristoffersson winning it. Timmy
Hansen took a nice decision by going to the Joker earlier than
Ken Block and Timur Timerzyanov, so he had the space to claim third
place and qualify for the final.
Andreas Bakkerud got a good gap right
at the start of the second semifinal while Solberg got it wrong and
stalled his car, staring with a few seconds lost. With the rest of
the field fight for final spots and the straight line power of the
Focus RS RX, Bakkerud disappeared in front in about three laps.
Solberg kept doing mistakes and this
kept him stuck in the back of the field while Kevin Eriksson was
holding Janis Baumanis for second place while Sebastian
Eriksson was eager to get a spot in the final. After all Joker
laps were completed, the situation behind Bakkerud didn't have a
change so Kevin Eriksson and Baumanis finished second and third.
The final had literally no favorite
with the string grid it had, and Kristoffersson took action quickly
as went to first before the first corner, staying in a high paced
battle with Bakkerud to keep the lead while the two Peugeots went
straight to the Joker.
Kristoffersson and Bakkerud went to the
Joker at the same time in the final lap and the difference was simply
too big for Bakkerud to threat the Polo GTI RX, and with this
Kristoffersson won it with almost 2 seconds to the Hoonigan Racing
driver while Loeb completed the podium.
The championship sees Kristoffersson
with an open wide lead as he has 181 points against 150 from Solberg
and the same 143 from Ekström, while between the teams there are no
threats to PSRX Volkswagen as they have 331 points against 246 from
Peugeot-Hansen.
After the end of the Scandinavian part
the World RX circle crosses the Atlantic to arrive at Trois-Rivières
in Canada with the Round 8 being held in August 4th.
PHOTO: Johan Kristoffersson
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