Kristoffersson commands PSRX Volkswagen 1-2 in Canada


Crossing an ocean became a thing that is done only once a year in the FIA World Rallycross Championship as the competition arrived at Trois-Rivières, in Canada, but this didn't change the fact that PSRX Volkswagen is sweeping everything in its way, winning again in a dominant performance of Johan Kristoffersson.

As usual PSRX Volkswagen took a 1-2 in qualifying, with Johan Kristoffersson being on top. EKS tried to counter as much as possible, but Mattias Ekström ended up in third while Toomas Heikkinen was in fourth as his performance declined over the heats. The shock of the session was Andreas Bakkerud being out of the event as he missed the qualifying cut by a little margin, meaning that only Ken Block would carry Hoonigan's colors in the semifinals.

The semifinal 1 saw Kristoffersson holding the grid out to then disappear in front while Kevin Eriksson jumped to second as some guys were caught napping at the start like Ekström. Kristoffersson left no doubts about his pace as he left behind Janis Baumanis and then Timmy Hansen, winning in dominant form. Eriksson held the pressure of Timmy Hansen and although he was ahead for a moment, this simply became the incentive for Eriksson to push more, with them finishing second and third respectively.

On semifinal 2, Petter Solberg had quite a job to do in his hands, and starting by shutting the door into Toomas Heikkinen, he kept the lead from the go signal. The EKS Finn tried to counter Solberg's pace but as usual from the double World champion, consistency was king and won with a huge margin to Heikkinen, who finished with Sébastien Loeb right in his rearview mirror.


The grid for the Final had the PSRX Volkswagen duo versus the rest of the field, specially with Solberg and Kristoffersson monopolizing the front row, thus having room to play the tactics as they want. Although departing on even ground, Kristoffersson got the lead while Solberg was in a close second, with Heikkinen and the rest struggling to keep track of them.

The 1-2 was pretty much secured, so it was a waiting game for Solberg from Lap 4 onwards, as any little mistake would be enough to overtake Kristoffersson, but the Swede kept it cool and precise, not even giving chance for Solberg to stay close to him, and then he crossed the line for his fourth win this season.


PSRX Volkswagen now simply dominates everything in World RX, as Kristoffersson leads the standings with 211 points against 176 of Solberg and 158 of Ekström. The team has a bigger lead in the standings, with 387 points against 279 of Team Peugeot-Hansen.


Now all the teams will have a whole month to cross the Atlantic back to Europe, as Lohéac will hold the ninth event of the season on September 3rd.

PHOTO: Johan Kristoffersson

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