In a weekend where the Höljes circuit saw drastic weather changes over only two days, adapting to the surprises was a key to win, in which Johan Kristoffersson aced again to score the first two wins of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in the 2024 season.
Qualifying on Saturday favored two drivers - Johan Kristoffersson and Klara Andersson. While Kristoffersson just showed more of the same, the new format with points awared per Heat was right in the point for the CEDT driver, who actually left her cards hidden until the race weekend, as the test day performance wasn’t even close to what was shown on Saturday.
Semifinal 1 had a full RX1e grid with advantage for the CEDT PWRs as Klara Andersson took the lead and Niclas Grönholm took the early Joker to get clean air. Despite the pressure from Timmy Hansen, she was actually opening the gap a tiny margin, but enough to stay away from Hansen’s front bumper. The Hansen WRXT slotted Grönholm in fourth as they couldn’t catch Andersson, so both Peugeot 208 RX1es qualified behind the CEDT driver.
An almost combustion powered Semifinal 2 saw the KMS drivers work strategically to shield themselves from Anthony Pelfrene and René Münnich, so Johan Kristoffersson just guided Ole Christian Veiby and Gustav Bergström to the qualification to the final, in special due to the dismal pace showed by both Pelfrene and Münnich.
In the first Final of the season, Andersson couldn’t hold Kristoffersson’s rocket start, and the World champion didn’t measure anything to open the gap to Andersson as she was falling more into Bergström’s field of view. In the end, Kristoffersson wasn’t caught at any moment, winning with a good margin to Andersson and Bergström.
Höljes RX I - Event results
Sunday started with an incredibly wet track and drivers needing to tame their cars to cope with the low grip available until the dry line started to form in Heat 2, with only Johan Kristoffersson not demonstrating any problems with it as he won the two Heats to become the solo top qualifier.
During the first Semifinal, all progress in the track condition was erased as heavy rain fell again, and Kristoffersson had the lead by simply tiptoeing his way over the track as the tires gave out at a certain point of the track for all drivers. Sondre Evjen had to retire as the grip went null again and he couldn’t recover, and Pelfrene’s Peugeot 208 WRX eventually stopped with engine failure, leaving only Kristoffersson, Veiby and Timmy Hansen crossing the finish line and qualifying to the Final.
Things would be more on level in the RX1e-only Semifinal 2, and Grönholm was in the lead of a reasonable field as the slippery asphalt and the muddy loose surface wouldn’t let them take any risks. Kevin Hansen was following Grönholm and waiting to see what happens while Andersson was fighting for her life to keep the third place away from Bergström. Eventually, Grönholms and Kevin Hansen settled for their positions and Bergström barely held it from a hungry Andresson that couldn’t find a way past for third place.
In the Final, the rain settled down and the once soaked track was mostly damp, and the line advantage compensated for Kristoffersson’s slightly slower launch while Grönholm was looking for ways to keep it close to Kristoffersson. With Grönholm unable to traction properly, Kristoffersson had free reign in the final lap to complete the sweep at Höljes.
Höljes RX II - Event results
Kristoffersson holds the lead with 58 points against 36 from Grönholm and Andersson, 35 from Veiby, 33 from Bergström and 31 from Timmy Hansen. The championship heads to Nyirád, in Hungary, for the second double header of the season, which will be held on 27 and 28 July.
PHOTOS: Red Bull Content Pool
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