It was a return to Ireland for the FIA European Rallycross Championship, and after 30 years away, not only the local presence was strong and everybody gave their spectacles, with the winner being Andreas Bakkerud while Kristoffersson Motorsport failed to mount an attack when it mattered the most despite having the fastest cars out there, in special Johan Kristoffersson.
It was clear that Johan Kristoffersson was class of the field in the Qualifying, but Andreas Bakkerud topped the intermediate standings, and to add to this, he did without topping any of the heats. While Kristoffersson won three of the four heats, a black flag in Heat 2 for pushing out Juha Rytkönen launched him down to fourth in the table, behind Bakkerud, Ole Christian Veiby and Joni Turpeinen, while Patrick O’Donovan recovered his form and won tha same Heat 2, in one of the few stances where the Kristoffersson stronghold was broken.
The local heroes tried it but only the O’Donovans were a threat at the top, with Derek Tohill being just outside the top 10, Gary Donoghue and his Honda Civic RX being just down the middle, John McCluskey with the other Civic RX just missing the top 15, and Michael Leonard and William Carey barely featured in the top 20. Thomas Graham and Shane Murphy managed their ways into the top 24 but Niall Murray was a foregone conclusion as an engine misfire cut off any possibility to even align in the grid past Heat 2. Another one suffering to pass was Fabien Pailler, as the Renault Megane R.S. RX wasn’t collaborating with him.
Quarter Final 1 had Bakkerud and Patrick O’Donovan in the front row, leaving Rytkönen fighting for survival with Támas Karái and René Münnich. Pace alone put Rytkönen back into a transfer spot, but he wasn’t able to reach neither Bakkerud nor O’Donovan, even if O’Donovan’s Peugeot 208 WRX had some hiccups along the way.
The second one had Veiby leading, Nils Volland keeping the second and Michael Leonard surprising a lacklustre Casper Jansson in the first lap. While Veiby won with authority and Volland was safe in second, Leonard battled to the bitter end and kept the third place by giving the roughest treatment possible to Jansson.
Quarter Final 3 had Ollie O’Donovan in fine form, but his immediate concern was to keep second place against an aggressive Tohill, while Joni Turpeinen quickly ran away with the lead. Over the race, Anton Seppä tried a smarter strategy, but his lack of pace basically secured the top three for Turpeinen, O’Donovan and Tohill.
Last Quarter Final had Kristoffersson as clear favorite, and while he disappeared in the lead, Martin Enlund was squabbling with João Oliveira for second and the others were watching. While Kristoffersson dominated the race, McCluskey fought for a Semifinal spot, but had to watch Enlund and Oliveira outpace him.
Team RX Racing had their drivers in the mid of the Semifinal 1 grid, but the whole SET fleet was there too, and putting the team play to work, Patrick O’Donovan formed a wall and isolated Rytkönen and Turpeinen from Ollie, but with Ollie going for a Lap 2 Joker, Rytkönen was able to stay behind Patrick and Turpeinen cleared Ollie to chase the top 3. Andreas Bakkerud kept the lead with no problems, Rytkönen and Turpeinen aligned behind Bakkerud and guarded the places against Patrick O’Donovan, eliminating three of the locals at once.
Both KMS Volkswagens were in the front row for the second Semifinal, with Veiby leading and Kristoffersson waiting, and despite the pace advantage, Kristoffersson took the patient approach and watched Veiby win while he kept second place, with Volland outpacing Enlund and Oliveira for the third spot.
Bakkerud and Turpeinen had the inside spots of the grid for the Final while Kristoffersson and Veiby were on the outside, which would offer a good scenario for the SET Promotion fleet, and while Veiby took second place behind Bakkerud, Rytkönen and Turpeinen worked to isolate Kristoffersson. Veiby covered Turpeinen and allowed Kristoffersson some clean air after his Joker, and a lap later, Bakkerud set up Kristoffersson to Joker and Veiby threw his team mate to the outside in the penultimate corner. While the KMS Polos cleared Turpeinen and Rytkönen, their melee offered enough of a gap for Bakkerud to take the win.
Mondello Park RX - Event results
Kristoffersson still leads with 132 points, but he sees Bakkerud getting closer as the Norwegian has 125, and behind them, Veiby has 117 and is still a title contender. Turpeinen and Rytkönen appear in fourth with 90 points each, but would need a miracle to get into the title race.
Another circuit will return to the European calendar as Lohéac brings back its popularity as the penultimate venue of the season, with the event set for 30 August.
PHOTO: FIA Rallycross Championships
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