The debut of the Silverstone’s Speedmachine circuit in the FIA World Rallycross Championship has delivered exciting action over the weekend and proved that the title fight will be tough at every event, with Johan Kristoffersson coming out on top in one of the toughest victories for the Swede.
With rain adding to the mix between periods of cloudy weather, track condition changed a lot and was one of the factors on a highly contested qualifying session that had Johan Kristoffersson on top, followed by Sébastien Loeb and Petter Solberg, but also had Timmy Hansen, Mattias Ekström and Andreas Bakkerud on the fight.
On semifinal 1 the PSRX VW drivers had an unusual lack of team cohesion as Kristoffersson and Solberg collided and the Swede ended in the destroyed tire barrier along with Tommy Rustad, which red flagged the race to put the barrier in place again. The right rear corner from Solberg’s Polo RX was a total mess, so the team crew ran to work on it to leave the car race ready.
When they finally raced, Kristoffersson held the lead from the attack of Andreas Bakkerud while Solberg was watching closely in third, at least until the car gave up, forcing the double champion to a retirement. Kristoffersson then drove it as hard as possible and this paid dividends in terms of holding Bakkerud until the flag, with Kevin Hansen coming third.
On semifinal 2 Sébastien Loeb kept first place while him and Timmy Hansen had Mattias Ekström trapped in second between them. While Loeb and Ekström held their positions in a close race, a spin due to a burst tire cost the third place for Hansen and this promoted Niclas Grönholm to third and to a spot in the final.
Kristoffersson held the lead when the started the final as Loeb messed up his start went down to fifth. The Swede had the EKS Audis right behind, so he was a man on a mission, and it took five laps for a change of strategy on EKS, which cost a position for Ekström. Kristoffersson was solid in his drive while Bakkerud had Loeb in his back, and this scenario didn’t have a single change until the checkered.
Kristoffersson leads with 105 points against 91 of Loeb, and a bit behind come Bakkerud with 83 points and Ekström and Solberg with 80. PSRX VW leads between the teams with 185 points against 163 of EKS and 162 of Peugeot. The next destination is a classic one, as Hell, in Norway, will hold the fifth event of the 2018 calendar on June 9th, with Alexander Wurz leading a list of wildcards for the event.
PHOTO: Volkswagen
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