Niclas Grönholm couldn’t be more at home during the FIA World Rallycross Championship weekend at Kouvola, with team and track adding to himself, but the sum of everything really came into effect in the second event of the double header, with the most thrilling of the races in 2020.
Unlike the sunny Saturday, the Sunday clouds all over the circuit and a damp track to deal with, though not as soaked as it was in 2014 at the start of the procedures, but rain levels just increased in Q3, which meant that extra care would be needed.
While Johan Kristoffersson, Mattias Ekström and Timmy Hansen kept their way as the usual suspects in the top lot, Juha Rytkönen kept his quest for giant killing with a fourth place in Q1. Misfire problems for Kristoffersson left the top up for grabs, and Niclas Grönholm took his place as the other ones remained unchanged, with Kristoffersson going back to his reigning position in Q3 to become the top qualifier.
Kouvola RX 2 - Qualifying intermediate results
Semifinal 1 had Kristoffersson opening the gap from the go signal while Ekström was on the chase and Rytkönen was brave enough to jump to third and hold position. While Kristoffersson and Ekström stayed secure in their places, the battle for third was hot with Rytkönen facing his difficulties and Robin Larsson to hold position, in which he eventually succeeded as Larsson had problems in the Final Lap. Unfortunately, Rytkönen had a 5 second penalty after the race for exceeding track limits, so Andreas Bakkerud took the spot to the final.
In the second race Grönholm denied any possibility of the Hansen Peugeots to take the lead, and while Timmy was chasing the Finn in second, Kevin had trouble to hold third place, which forced him to go to an early Joker Lap. The race became a GRX vs. Hansen affair where strategy would be key, and with Hansen’s tactics failing, pace and luck were the answers as Grönholm cruised to victory, Timmy Hansen passed in the last corner for second and Timur Timerzyanov barely held third place from a chasing Kevin Hansen.
Kouvola RX 2 - Semifinal results
The Final had Niclas Grömholm bullying Kristoffersson at the start, a thing that worked to swap places, but the Swede wanted that place back, keeping a close look of Grönholm’s rear end, and as the threats to attack didn’t work, going for the Joker was the alternative.
Kristoffersson had all the advantage with the Joker done and the frontrunners struggling for traction, and Grönholm and Ekström held places for all the time possible, and somehow the move worked as Kristoffersson wasn’t ahead and with the outside line in the final corner, enough for Grönholm to prevail and for Ekström to get second place. To make things worse for Kristoffersson, lack of traction sent him and Timur Timerzyanov to the gravel, and with the line advantage, the Russian passed and got third place.
Staying out of the Final podium didn’t affect Kristoffersson’s lead, with 111 points against 94 from Ekström and 76 from Grönholm. The teams battle is also tightm with KYB Team JC remaining on top with 153 points while Team Hansen has 134 points and GRX TANECO has 116.
After two incredibly busy weekends, the World RX competitors take a two week break until 19th and 20th September, as Bikernieki will be host of the Riga RX, with a third JC Audi for Enzo Ide and the return of ESMotorsport and their Skoda Fabia, now with Janis Baumanis at the wheel.
PHOTO: GRX TANECO
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