Crossing an ocean became a thing that
is done only once a year in the FIA World Rallycross Championship
as the competition arrived at Trois-Rivières, in Canada, but
this didn't change the fact that PSRX Volkswagen is sweeping
everything in its way, winning again in a dominant performance of
Johan Kristoffersson.
As usual PSRX Volkswagen took a 1-2 in
qualifying, with Johan Kristoffersson being on top. EKS tried
to counter as much as possible, but Mattias Ekström ended up
in third while Toomas Heikkinen was in fourth as his
performance declined over the heats. The shock of the session was
Andreas Bakkerud being out of the event as he missed the qualifying
cut by a little margin, meaning that only Ken Block would carry
Hoonigan's colors in the semifinals.
The semifinal 1 saw Kristoffersson
holding the grid out to then disappear in front while Kevin Eriksson
jumped to second as some guys were caught napping at the start like
Ekström. Kristoffersson left no doubts about his pace as he left
behind Janis Baumanis and then Timmy Hansen, winning in dominant
form. Eriksson held the pressure of Timmy Hansen and although he was
ahead for a moment, this simply became the incentive for Eriksson to
push more, with them finishing second and third respectively.
On semifinal 2, Petter Solberg
had quite a job to do in his hands, and starting by shutting the door
into Toomas Heikkinen, he kept the lead from the go signal. The EKS
Finn tried to counter Solberg's pace but as usual from the double
World champion, consistency was king and won with a huge margin to
Heikkinen, who finished with Sébastien Loeb right in his rearview
mirror.
The grid for the Final had the PSRX
Volkswagen duo versus the rest of the field, specially with Solberg
and Kristoffersson monopolizing the front row, thus having room to
play the tactics as they want. Although departing on even ground,
Kristoffersson got the lead while Solberg was in a close second, with
Heikkinen and the rest struggling to keep track of them.
The 1-2 was pretty much secured, so it
was a waiting game for Solberg from Lap 4 onwards, as any little
mistake would be enough to overtake Kristoffersson, but the Swede
kept it cool and precise, not even giving chance for Solberg to stay
close to him, and then he crossed the line for his fourth win this
season.
PSRX Volkswagen now simply dominates
everything in World RX, as Kristoffersson leads the standings with
211 points against 176 of Solberg and 158 of Ekström. The team has a
bigger lead in the standings, with 387 points against 279 of Team
Peugeot-Hansen.
Now all the teams will have a whole
month to cross the Atlantic back to Europe, as Lohéac will hold the
ninth event of the season on September 3rd.
PHOTO: Johan Kristoffersson
PHOTO: Johan Kristoffersson
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