The FIA RX2e Championship had four title contenders when arrived at Barcelona for the season finale, and in an event where the pressure fell over all contenders, Isak Sjökvist had the last win of the year while a quite mature Viktor Vranckx conquered the title at 16 years old, keeping the Belgian flag high after his mentor Guillaume De Ridder lifted the RX2e title last season.
Isak Sjökvist and Nils Andersson started the Heats in a particular battle, but Viktor Vranckx went past his rashness to join the party on Heat 3, with the consistency appearing on the first Progression Race while Patrick O’Donovan was finally getting the spotlight for his performance in the Progression Race 2.
Meanwhile, former F1 and F-E driver Nick Heidfeld and former MotoGP and WSBK rider Carlos Checa were the invited drivers of the weekend to debut in rallycross, and while the German was more methodical and stood out of the way in order to gain as much experience in the car possible, Checa went elbows out when the chances appeared.
Semifinal 1 had two of the protagonists of the weekend, and Vranckx got the advantage while Andersson was dealing with the rest of the field, which he overcame quickly to fight for the lead. The Belgian had all bases covered and never left an opening for Andersson, winning with authority while the Swedish driver had to hold himself from Pablo Suárez, narrowly holding second place.
O’Donovan and Sjökvist were in Semifinal 2, but Pepe Arqué made no ceremony of compressing the favorites on the inside of Turn 1 to take the lead while having Raul Ferre and O’Donovan on his back. While most of the field had the Joker done before the halfway mark, O’Donovan enjoyed the clean air to rack up fast laps, but in the Final Lap he was passed again by Arque, to take it back again at the line as he gave the same treatment that Arque gave at the start.
The Final had Sjökvist leading Vranckx, and while the Swede opted to enjoy the clean air, Vranckx went for the Joker and got trapped by Pablo Suárez, which held the Belgian when Sjökvist did his Joker. On Lap 4 it was all about going elbows out for Sjökvist, Vranckx and Andersson, but despite Vranckx’ best efforts, he never unsettled the winner Sjökvist.
FIA RX2e - Barcelona event results
Vranckx ended the season with 83 points against 73 from Sjökvist while Andersson had 65 and O’Donovan had 60.
An overjoyed Vranckx thanked the team effort for his title, saying in the post-race interview: “I might be the driver but the team was just amazing this year. It’s a family and we showed and winning these races and the championship is the best day in my life.” Winning driver Sjökvist was also in pure celebration mode when he said: “We’ve been working so hard for this win, I mean, throughout the whole season and it finally paid off.”
The RX2e Championship takes a break while the 2023 calendar still needs to be announced.
PHOTOS: Red Bull Content Pool
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