The final event of the 2024 FIA World Rallycross Championship season at the Istanbul Park in Türkiye showed how wildcard entries can be fearsome, as Juha Rytkönen returned to the competition in familiar machinery, but conquering the first win he couldn’t achieve back at Kouvola in 2021, beating Johan Kristoffersson amid a sketchy track condition that the PGRX driver dominated with his Hyundai i20 RX.
The Heats offered contrasting scenarios in terms of weather and in the competition, as Juha Rytkönen and Johan Kristoffersson dominated in Heat 1, only to be victims of the field wanting pieces of bodywork of each other, as both Heat 1 winners were sent to crashes due to contact, which opened the way for Patrick O’Donovan and Ole Christian Veiby to win.
Heat 2 in special had the addition of the rain, so the gravel that was already slippery for everybody became more of an enemy for the RX1e electric cars, as the 0-1 nature of their power delivery and the extra weight forces the drivers to brake earlier than the supercars and offers no grip when going out of the corners, which basically rendered them uncompetitive in the second race, when the rain was heavier.
Semifinal 1 had O’Donovan in a quite curious pole position, but the Irish driver couldn’t take advantage of it as Niclas Grönholm had a better launch while Kristoffersson was following him fiercely, with O’Donovan opting for an early Joker to turn the tables. With wet gravel looking more like ice, Kristoffersson took the lead amid Grönholm’s struggles. While the KMS Horse Polos had total control of the race, Grönholm was fighting for his life to not be passed by Steven Bossard, only to slide off the line to allow the PGRX to go past and then retake the third position once Bossard had a tire failure.
The second Semifinal had a predominant electric grid, with only Juha Rytkönen having a combustion engine, and the well timed launch of the Finnish driver gave the advantage, especially as everybody had to carefully point straight their cars out of the corners. With the race win being a lost cause as Rytkönen was too far ahead, the Hansen WRXT Peugeots swapped places to allow Kevin Hansen to get the most points possible from second place while Timmy Hansen took third place to be the brother’s shield in the Final.
KMS Horse and Hansen WRXT could make the team play work in the Final as they had their two cars in close positions, but Veiby stalled and Rytkönen took the lead as held Kristoffersson. Behind them, the early Joker for both Hansen WRXT Peugeots paid off to basically park before Veiby’s front bumper, and when a struggling Grönholm appeared in front of the fifth place battle, Timmy went ahead while Veiby spun.
Rytkönen continued his masterclass until the finish line, not allowing Kristoffersson to come any closer and get away with the first and only win for a one-off entry in the 2024 season, with Kevin Hansen confirming his third place finish as the rest of the field was stuck in their squabble.
Türkiye RX II - Event results
Rytkönen’s first World RX win comes with other milestones, as this was the first Hyundai win in World RX since the 2021 Nürburgring RX with Niclas Grönholm, and the first wildcard win since Sebastian Eriksson with an Olsbergs MSE Fiesta ST RX at the 2019 Höljes RX, which puts Rytkönen in a very exclusive club that was started by Tanner Foust at Kouvola in 2014.
Kristoffersson ended the season with 240 points while Kevin Hansen was the runner-up with 197 and Veiby settled for third with 190. Rytkönen’s win made him the best wildcard entry with 36 points, appearing in ninth in the standings. KMS Horse got the Teams title in this second leg, with 430 points against 378 of the Hansen World RX Team and 322 of Construction Equipment Dealer Team.
PHOTO: PGRX
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