The first event of the Riga RX double header at Bikernieki showed clearly what Johan Kristoffersson can do when he is allowed to let loose on track, and doing it when it mattered most secured the victory for the VW BAUHAUS driver, along with a more comfortable lead in the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
Kristoffersson got a head start with the Q1 lead, but it was clear the others wouldn’t go down without a fight, with at least five drivers capable of threatening the Swede, and it was Niclas Grönholm the responsible to dethrone him in Q2 while Mattias Ekström topped the Q3, though Grönholm was the top qualifier, followed by Kristoffersson, Ekström, Robin Larsson and Timmy and Kevin Hansen.
Despite still being plagued by issues, Liam Doran and Andreas Bakkerud made it to the semifinals with some breathing room, while returning driver Reinis Nitiss put the ESMotorsport Skoda in the semis by a tiny margin, just ahead of René Münnich, which meant Timo Scheider and Anton Marklund missed the next phase.
Riga RX - Qualifying intermediate results
The first semifinal had Grönholm sharing the front row with Ekström, and despite some rough play at the first corner, they held the top of the pack with the Swede leading the Finn while Reinis Nitiss barely holding third place until his Joker Lap.
While Ekström and Grönholm were in their own affair, Timmy Hansen was taking advantage to ramp up the pace, and while the GRX TANECO driver was able to put up a challenge to Ekström, it wasn’t enough to go past second place by a tiny margin to the KYB Team JC driver, with Kevin Hansen consolidated in third as Andreas Bakkerud didn’t represent a major threat despite being close.
The second semifinal had a more peaceful start with Johan Kristoffersson going away with the lead while leaving Larsson to the chasing pack, and Kristoffersson just had to apply his way to cruise to the victory. Despite having Hansen in his back, Larsson didn’t have a battle to engage until the line, so he stayed with the second place while Kevin Hansen kept third place.
In the Final Kristoffersson had the advantage at the start and Larsson tried to beat him, but as he got spun at Turn 2, Kristoffersson had open way to consolidate his top sport while Kevin Hansen had Ekström’s pressure in his back until the Joker, so Ekström had room to improve pace.
Truth was that Kristoffersson wasn’t threatened during the whole race despite the best efforts from Timmy and Ekström, and in the end the VW BAUHAUS driver just cruised to first place while Ekström got back second place at the final corner from Timmy Hansen, who beat Kevin Hansen for third.
Kristoffersson opened the gap in the standings as he has 140 points against 119 from Ekström and 99 from Grönholm. KYB Team JC leads the teams standings with 192 points against 172 from Team Hansen and 148 from GRX TANECO.
The second round of the Riga RX double header starts with the qualifying tomorrow morning local time.
PHOTO: Kristoffersson Motorsport
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