It was everybody's race during the two rounds of the 2024 RallyX season that were held at Älvsbyn, in Sweden, with Maiko Tamm prevailing on Saturday while youngster Joni Turpeinen had the Sunday win where survival made the difference.
Just because there were only 10 cars in the grid for the Qualifying, it doesn't mean the drivers wouldn't race hard, so the best way to describe the whole session was ‘chaos’. Mats Öhman topped Q1 but Martin Enlund replied with the best time in Q2, and in Q3 it was survival of the toughest with the drivers off the leash, and while Maiko Tamm emerged victorious in the chaos, Öhman topped the Intermediate table, with Enlund in second and Tamm in third.
Semifinal 1 had Öhman in front for two corners before his Audi S1 EKS RX went straight to the trees, so Tamm inherited the lead and had Filip Thorén in second, being passed by Marcis Martinovs but recovering the position later, even though the process wasn't at all pretty.
For Semifinal 2, the two FC2s had the inside line in the grid but Enlund had the lead, guiding a high speed cat and mouse play with Kevin Eriksson, but when he went to the Joker, Oliver Eriksson took the job of chasing Enlund, but the Ford Fiesta ST RX was too far ahead of the FirstCorner FC2s.
In the Final, Tamm and Enlund banged doors but the Estonian got the top spot. With Oliver Eriksson busy chasing Enlund, Tamm never had any opposition until the final lap, and even a rough attack from Enlund didn't dislodge Tamm from the winning place, with the FC2s coming a bit later to complete the podium.
For Round 6, Frank Valle and Kevin Eriksson opted to stay out due to problems in their cars, so the eight car event went from Qualifying to the Final. Mats Öhman gotTh the Q1 win but Martin Enlund replied in Q2, only to ruin his chances of a front row start with a spin and a retirement in Q3, which was dominated by Joni Turpeinen, which helped the 15 years old Finn to top the table.
The Final had Turpeinen and Öhman banging doors while Maiko Tamm joined the party to be second. Öhman eventually fell to fourth and Tamm wasn't closing down the gap, so Turpeinen just had to keep the pace to win the Final and the event.
Turpeinen also got the top of the table with the Sunday win, having 119 points against 106 of Tamm and the 97 of both Martinsson and Enlund. The championship crosses the border to Denmark as Nysum is the next venue in the schedule, with Rounds 7 and 8 set for 3 and 4 August.
PHOTOS: RX Promotion
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