Just because Johan Kristoffersson got his second FIA World Rallycross Championship title it doesn’t mean he would slow down his pace, and despite the high level of opposition, the Swede scored his tenth win in the 2018 season at Estering.
Despite topping the qualifying standings, Johan Kristoffersson had it the hard way as all heat wins were spread between Timmy Hansen, who was fourth, Mattias Ekström, who was fifth, and a sixth-placed Petter Solberg, while Andreas Bakkerud was second best just by keeping himself consistent.
Johan Kristoffersson not only protected his lead in the semifinal 1, but also ignited a chain reaction that saw lots of contact and threw Timmy Hansen into Kevin Hansen and then into Anton Marklund, knocking out both cars of the fight for the win and letting the younger Hansen go. The race then turned into a PSRX VW 1-2 with Kevin Hansen watching them closely. The pace shown during the standard laps gave the advantage to Kristoffersson, and the win was secured with certain ease.
On semifinal 2 Mattias Ekström took the lead from Andreas Bakkerud and Niclas Grönholm took the opportunity to go second, only to get pushed out of it by Bakkerud and sent back to the back of the field. In the fifth lap, Kevin Eriksson and Sébastien Loeb had a contact that sent the Frenchman to a halt, and with the Swede slowed down, Grönholm jumped to third and secured his spot in the final, behind of Ekström and Bakkerud in an EKS Audi 1-2.
In the final, Solberg started well but overdid it and went off, and while that, Bakkerud took the lead from Kristoffersson, only to be passed by the Swede on Lap 2. A bit later, Kevin Hansen lost control and his Peugeot 208 WRX was smashed into the wall, so the red flag needed to be brought.
In the restart, Kristoffersson was able to keep first place but Ekström started varying his tactics to go faster and attack the PSRX VW driver. Kristoffersson gave no chance to the EKS duo, and with this his tenth win of the season was clinched, with Ekström being second and Bakkerud completing the podium. Solberg stopped in the way due to cooling issues, so Grönholm came home fourth.
The 2018 World RX season has only one round to go now, which is the Cape Town RX at Killarney, South Africa, on November 24th.
PHOTO: Volkswagen Motorsport
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