Grönholm was the dominant force at Lousada RX

After a lot of speculation and last minute movements, nine cars were present at Lousada for the first round of the 2025 FIA World Rallycross Championship with FIA acting as the promoter, and with the method for Equivalence of Technology between RX1es and supercars being fairly open, there was an expectation on how balanced the field would be, although Niclas Grönholm and his PWR RX1e proved that the electrics are barely a step ahead of Johan Kristoffersson and the combustion powered entries.
 
Lousada was totally renovated, abandoning the face from more than a decade ago, with the layout being praised by the whole field, and considering how packed the stands were at the circuit, it was hard to tell that World RX was in a very delicate situation, with the Lousada RX being more like an initial demonstration of regrowth rather than the definitive state of the competition.
 

Obviously, the circuit’s position near the city helped a lot, along with all activation events done during the week, but with the Portuguese rallycross championship and WRC recently visiting Lousada, it was obvious that the excitement from the population would fortunately echo in the World RX, making for the perfect ambient to present a new start of the championship.
 
Niclas Grönholm had consistency on his side in the Qualifying heats, topping the intermediate table thanks to wins in Q2 and Q3, but a rising Johan Kristoffersson appeared in second after suffering on Saturday with a faulty sensor, but recovering on Sunday as his Volkswagen Polo KMS 601 RX got back to shape. Timmy Hansen was third thanks to a Q1 win, but he eventually fell back with Kevin Hansen behind Grönholm and Kristoffersson.
 
Out of all combustion powered supercars, the KMS Polos were clearly the only threat to the RX1e bunch, with Ole Christian Veiby starting well but also falling back despite having frontrunning performances.
 
Grönholm and Timmy had the RX1es on top in the first Semifinal, with Veiby not wanting to stay behind and going to the Joker early, and the undercut almost paid off, with the Volkswagen being pretty close to the PWR and the Peugeot, but ultimately, Veiby had to settle with the ticket to the Final as Grönholm and Timmy Hansen stood firm in first and second.
 
For the first time in the weekend, Kristoffersson had his favorite position, which is the inside to the first corner, and in the second Semifinal, Kristoffersson went straight to the lead once he overcame Kevin Hansen’s acceleration. A mid-race Joker would put Kristoffersson behind Klara Andersson, but once she went to the Joker in the final lap, his focus was back to outpacing Kevin Hansen, in which he succeed to win the race.
 
The Final would put the KMS Polos against the whole RX1e bunch, but with Kristoffersson and Veiby being boxed by the Hansen WRXT Peugeots, Grönholm had all the room to go away with the lead. What Grönholm didn’t count with was that Timmy would be pressing him, and this kept Grönholm out of the possibility of going early to the Joker, and with everything left to the final lap, the PWR had both Hansen on its back, with Timmy trying to muscle Grönholm off the line in the final corner, only to watch Grönholm win the event while Veiby  took third place from Kevin Hansen.
 
Lousada RX - Event results
 
Grönholm leads the standings with 28 points, with Timmy in second with 21, Veiby in third with 17 and Kristoffersson being only fourth with 16 points.
 
After a full month, Höljes will be the next destination, with the Magic Weekend set for 6 July, with AllInkl.com Münnich Motorsport confirmed to return with at least a SEAT Ibiza RX supercar.
 
PHOTOS: FIA World Rallycross Championship