Kristoffersson dominates Montalegre RX

New year, same winner in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, as the Montalegre RX saw Johan Kristoffersson in absolute good form with his Volkswagen Polo RX1e while the rest of the field was catching up in pace or knowing what their cars can do.
 
Kristoffersson by himself was flawless at every time possible in Qualifying, but with Niclas Grönholm rising to mix with the other Hansen WRXT and VW BAUHAUS cars, there was almost no opposition to the quintuple World RX champion at the top, with the closest threat being exactly Grönholm.
 
The new Lancia Delta Evo-e RXs had solid runs but were still lacking pace comparing to the heavyweights of the grid, so Sébastien Loeb did his best but was only mixing with the middle pack while Guerlain Chicherit was barely staying out of the bottom. Also, despite being still in development, the Münnich Motorsport SEAT Ibiza RX1e showed a lot of promise with Timo Scheider at the wheel as the German had mid pack worthy performances to end in a joint seventh with Loeb, despite the odds indicating the Ibiza would be very off the pace.
 
Semifinal 1 had old acquintances reunited in the first two rows as Kristoffersson once battled with the Hansens and Loeb as one entity. Having the inside, Kristoffersson held position and was making use of open air ahead to build a gap while the instable weather insisted in showing its bad side again. With Kristoffersson, Timmy Hansen and Loeb going to a Final Lap Joker, Kevin Hansen took second place, but Timmy got too close, took the worst end of the intra-team contact and had Bergström literally knocking hard on his door while Loeb barged his way between the crashed cars to be in the Final with Kristoffersson and Kevin Hansen.
 
The second one had Grönholm leading with Chicherit taking the inside to second to follow the CEDT PWR RX1e. No one but Klara Andersson was exactly fond of an early Joker, with the gaps working in favor of the Swedish driver, and in the final lap it paid dividends as she clearly took second place to only stay behind her CEDT team mate, while Ole Christian Veiby denied Chicherit of the last spot in the Final.
 
The Final would be last and most important chance to beat Kristoffersson, but the usual line was still working for the VW BAUHAUS driver, and seeing that, Grönholm opted for an early Joker to reduce the gap under clean air. Grönholm’s strategy was set to work in the final lap, but Kevin Hansen overcame a left rear puncture to beat the Finnish out of the Joker, but in the end Hansen had only enough for second place as Kristoffersson disappeared in front to take the win.
 
Montalegre RX event results
 
Next up for the World RX will be the Hell RX, to be held on 18 June.
 
PHOTO: Kristoffersson Motorsport