After the rollercoaster that was the week for the FIA World Rallycross Championship and specifically for Hansen WRXT, the inaugural round at the KymiRing helped to give a clearer picture of the title fight, with Niclas Grönholm being held back while Johan Kristoffersson established his lead, all while Ole Christian Veiby stole the attention and won the dash to the line in a KMS thriller.
The round was at risk of having the lowest grid ever, with only five cars confirmed as Team RX Racing pulled out and Hansen WRXT failed to secure sponsorship for the remaining three rounds, something that was turned around as Volvo Construction Equipment and CE Dealer Team stepped in and covered for the lost Red Bull support, securing the trip to Finland for both Timmy and Kevin Hansen.
It was the first time that Johan Kristoffersson was racing at the KymiRing, and still, he would put a dominant performance to top the intermediate table, with the only exception being in Q3, when the competition ramped up the pace. Niclas Grönholm was second and Ole Christian Veiby was third, while Kevin and Timmy Hansen had positions 4 and 5 despite admitting that their Peugeot 208 RX1es wouldn’t be up to the level to compete for a win, while Juha Rytkönen demonstrated on track that he could take on the electric cars despite the sixth position in the table.
With only seven cars present for the event, World RX would skip Semifinals, which meant no Klara Andersson in the final grid. Grönholm held the lead for a corner before hell broke loose in the second one, when the CEDT driver got sent to the barriers and Rytkönen overtook the whole field for the race lead, being benefited by the fact that the surfact was still sketchy, which would make the power delivery slightly difficult for the RX1e cars.
The Joker lap saw Rytkönen lose the effective lead to Veiby while Kristoffersson had clean air to go on full power, but a puncture in the final lap prevented Veiby from ovetaking Veiby, with the Norwegian being only 0.296 seconds ahead to win the event, while Rytkönen held the third position behind the KMS 1-2.
After the race, Rytkönen’s move on Grönholm in Turn 2 was deemed as pushing and overtaking, and by consequence, the PGRX driver had two seconds added in his total and lost his third position to Kevin Hansen, falling to fifth in the amended order, with half a second behind fourth placed Timmy Hansen.
KymiRing RX - Event results
Kristoffersson’s lead over Grönholm went from 7 to 15 points, as the KMS driver now has 95 points over 80 of the CEDT driver. Veiby in third with 76 points and Timmy Hansen with 70 still hold into minimal title chances. The next rounds will be the last ones of the season, with Istanbul Park hosting the double header on 20 and 21 September.
PHOTO: Kristoffersson Motorsport
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