The Sunday of RallyX Nordic at the Tierp Arena was an event of survival, and staying in one piece at the right time while staying fast was the key to victory for Kevin Eriksson, who overcame problems before the action started and took the win when Johan Kristoffersson had a late breakdown in his car.
Qualifying was a typical show of Kristoffersson on clockwork mode as his three wins were with total times of 1:49 minutes, and basically he was the only driver who did so. Kevin Eriksson was second after dealing with a busted engine before the Qualifying, which forced him to jump in a spare car, and Gustav Bergström, missed after Q1 yesterday due to other commitments, was third in the Hedströms Hyundai i20 RX as he follows his VW BAUHAUS team mates in the preseason preparation for the World RX.
Semifinal 1 saw Kristoffersson take the same advantage in in the inside line of Turn 1 to go away with the lead while Bergström was on a run to hold Belevksiy. The pace of the three on top was so much higher that Maiko Tamm never had a chance to reach them, so the way it started it was how it finished.
The second Semifinal had Eriksson leading while Veiby survived a barrage of cars as Kristensson and Vranckx rammed the back of the Polo RX. Eriksson had Veiby on his spoiler all the time until the Joker, but with the whole field having some sort of damage, he just had to being the Olsbergs Civic RX home to the win while Kristensson soldiered on in second and Vranckx crabbed his way to third after beating Veiby’s block.
The Am Final saw Maiko Tamm take the lead via the natural gain on acceleration that the supercars have on the RX2es, but opted to throw it away for an early Joker, which let Vranckx loose to run. In hopes of holding a hard charging Tamm, Vranckx left the Joker to the Final Lap, but clumsy lines due to suspension issues held the Belgian and handed the win to Tamm.
The main Final had Eriksson and Kristoffersson on the usual alignment on the front row, but Bergström decided to spoil the party by putting himself between the two and then take the lead as Kristoffersson had a flat tire, Eriksson went for an early Joker and Belevskiy had a puncture. Eriksson had a race against time to squash the gap to Bergström, and he made it work in the Final Lap when the Joker Laps were done, having just to resist the pressure to secure the win, while Viktor Vranckx completed the podium behind them by being the last car to complete the race.
RallyX Nordic - Tierp II event results
Title fight is still open with Kristoffersson having 104 points against 103 of Eriksson, and Belevskiy’s 82 would still give him hope if a number of factors come into play. In the Supercar Am table, Vranckx is the leader with 72 points but Tamm is keeping the title race alive with 62 points while Kristensson is the nearest dark horse with 47.
After Denmark and Sweden, it’s time to visit Finland as RallyX Nordic’s next stop will be the classic Kouvola circuit on 27 and 28 May.
PHOTO: RallyX Nordic/Jan Kaare Rafoss
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