Being at the wrong place in Q1 was the only thing that Johan Kristoffersson did wrong during the whole World RX of USA weekend, as no one was able to stop the Swede in his quest for his ninth win this season, along with the second FIA World Rallycross Championship title.
An emotional Petter Solberg was back to his good form by winning two of the four qualifying heats and topping the table, with Mattias Ekström came in second with a Q3 win and Johan Kristoffersson was third with the Q4 and a recovery drive after an absolutely bad run in Q1 due to being stuck by the two Peugeot cars at once.
The semifinal front row had both PSRX VW cars locking it while the Hansens were right behind, and Kevin and Timmy marked Solberg and Kristoffersson, but the Volkswagen Polos were fast as always, though no one counted with Solberg staying in front of Kristoffersson, but with the Swede in huge benefit of the result, the positions weren’t changed, which gave the title to Kristoffersson really early.
Semifinal 2 had Ekström leading Sébastien Loeb and Niclas Grönholm by a really tiny margin, and while Grönholm came immediately to the Joker, the late strategy worked for Ekström and Loeb as they locked first and second positions, while Andreas Bakkerud’s pace gave him the third spot.
The final had only the compromise of the victory, and Ekström almost got Kristoffersson when they led a four-car pack to the Joker. Petter Solberg led Bakkerud to the standard route but a lap later was fast enough to Joker and go back ahead of Kristoffersson with his lead intact, but Kristoffersson’s pressure was still there and this sent Solberg to a mistake that cost the lead and the win, which went to Kristoffersson to crown the weekend at Austin.
Kristoffersson now has 281 and can’t be chased by Ekström, with 204, and Solberg and his 202 points. The Teams’ title is still up for grabs though, with PSRX VW having 483 points and EKS having 404.
The next stop is back to Europe, as the Estering RX on October 13th is the last event of the season in the continent.
PHOTO: Volkswagen Motorsport
Comments
Post a Comment
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to comment.