Sebastian Eriksson keeps cool and wins the RallyX On Ice at Piteå

The FIA World Rallycross and the Global Rallycross still have a lot ot time until their first races, but while in the off-season, some of the drivers from both championships tried their ways into a different surface: snow.

This Sunday (31), Piteå held the first round of the RallyX On Ice, a rallycross winter championship in the proper sense of the expression, as all you will see will be a plain white scenario with rallycross cars roaring around it. In this case, the supercar lites that are used in the RX Lites championship are the main class, and stars like Patrik Sandell and Sebastian Eriksson from Global Rallycross, as well junior aces Kevin Eriksson, Thomas Bryntesson and Tejas Hirani from the RX Lites side were present.

In the qualifying heats, Sebastian Eriksson was the best in the table, with Bryntesson, Alexander Westlund and Sandell right behind.

In the first semifinal, Tejas Hirani put pressure on Westlund and took the early lead, but he still had Sondre Evjen and Alexander Westlund on the chase. As the Kenyan driver was disappearing in the lead, although still with a joker lap to complete, Westlund started to attack Evjen. In the final turn of the circuit, while Hirani was the first to enter in the final lap, a contact with Westlund sent Evjen to the snowbank, ending his race and promoting Sebastian Eriksson to third place. To the first two, it was only a question of managing their paces, while Eriksson held Thomas Holmen to stay in third place.

RallyX On Ice Piteå – Semifinal 1 Results

POS.	NUMBER	DRIVER	COUNTRY	TEAM
1	13	TEJAS HIRANI	KEN	RIFT VALLEY MOTORSPORTS CLUB
2	2	ALEXANDER WESTLUND	SWE	GÄSTRIKE RACING TEAM
3	6	SEBASTIAN ERIKSSON	SWE	MK SPEED
4	9	THOMAS HOLMEN	NOR	KNA SOLØR MOTORSPORT
5	10	NICLAS GRÖNHOLM	FIN	ESPOON MOTORSPORT CLUB
6	12	SONDRE EVJEN	NOR	NMK GOL

Then we had the second semifinal starting and Kevin Eriksson rushed like a bullet from the outside to take the lead, holding Bryntesson and Sandell. The GRC driver still had to deal with a charging William Nilsson, who he left in the outside and in the snow of the last corner, and while Nisson was left behind, Jonas Ökvist started the attack onto him. Trying to defend his position, Sandell overshoot a bit in one of the corners, but enough to get stuck in the snow, giving the last qualifying place to Ökvist.

Eriksson almost suffered pressure from Bryntesson in the final lap, but a mistake from the Gulf-colored Norwegian almost cost the second position as Ökvist crossed the finish line really close to him.

RallyX On Ice Piteå – Semifinal 2 Results

POS.	NUMBER	DRIVER	COUNTRY	TEAM
1	4	KEVIN ERIKSSON	SWE	MK SPEED
2	3	THOMAS BRYNTESSON	NOR	NMK TRÖGSTAD
3	14	JONAS ÖKVIST	SWE	PITEÅ MS
4	7	SIMON OLOFSSON	SWE	SMK EDA
5	5	WILLIAM NILSSON	SWE	KAK
6	1	PATRIK SANDELL	SWE	JÄMTLANDS MK

Started the final and Sebastian Eriksson got the upper hand with Kevin Eriksson right behind, while Tejas Hirani got stuck in the snowbank at the joker area and ended his race. While the first two had their positions guaranteed, Alexander Westlund had to hold place against Thomas Bryntesson, but in the fourth lap, Bryntesson overshoot himself in a turn and got victim of the snowbanks too.

In the last lap, Westlund tried to attack Kevin, but while Sebastian Eriksson got the checkered, Westlund didn’t have the time and room to transfer the effort in an overtake on Kevin Eriksson.

RallyX On Ice Piteå – Final Results

POS.	NUMBER	DRIVER	COUNTRY	TEAM
1	6	SEBASTIAN ERIKSSON	SWE	MK SPEED
2	4	KEVIN ERIKSSON	SWE	MK SPEED
3	2	ALEXANDER WESTLUND	SWE	GÄSTRIKE RACING TEAM
4	14	JONAS ÖKVIST	SWE	PITEÅ MS
5	3	THOMAS BRYNTESSON	NOR	NMK TRÖGSTAD
6	13	TEJAS HIRANI	KEN	RIFT VALLEY MOTORSPORTS CLUB

The other category that ran at Piteå, the Supernational class, had the victory of Mattias Ohlsson. The RallyX On Ice championship returns on February 26th at Sälen.

PHOTOS: RallyX Nordic, Olsbergs MSE