Andreas Bakkerud arrived at Lousada with a single point ahead of Johan Kristoffersson in the FIA European Rallycross Championship table, but a frustrating Saturday and a brilliant recovery from Kristoffersson saw the title battle turn massively to the Kristoffersson Motorsport side.
Qualifying was all over the place because Johan Kristoffersson topped it, but had to face two heats of moving obstacles as he was marked quite aggressively. The problem is that Andreas Bakkerud wasn’t keeping up the pace, as Patrick O’Donovan was second and Joni Turpeinen was third, with Ole Christian Veiby being fourth with two wins and a breakdown, while Nils Volland, Fabien Pailler and Juha Rytkönen appeared before Bakkerud, carrying over a fragile Ford Fiesta ST RX that had problems in free practice, and that ended the Q3 with a puncture.
Bakkerud needed to go well in the first Quarter Final, but Kristoffersson was ahead of him, everybody was sideways in the second corner, and both Bakkerud and Casper Jansson ended in the wall. Kristoffersson had no opposition as he was in clean air, while Bakkerud was fighting another puncture, and with the Joker to do, René Münnich took second place and Leonardo Sampaio was having a dream Saturday, advancing to the Semifinals.
Quarter Final 2 had a good start from O’Donovan while Volland and Anton Seppä understeered to the wall at the same turn 2, practically giving the other transfer spots to Martin Enlund and Tamás Kárai. While Volland kept a close pursuit on Enlund, the German eventually lost contact and the top 3 didn’t change.
The third Quarter Final had the Lohéac RX winner Pailler, making the most of the front row start while Johannes Rafoss bullied Joni Turpeinen out of second place, with José Oliveira capitalizing but going wide later. On Lap 3, Rafoss’ Ford Fiesta RX stops with problems, opening the door for Turpeinen and Ollie O’Donovan, and while Pailler ran free to the win and Turpeinen secured second place, O’Donovan covered himself from Oliveira and took the third spot.
Quarter Final 4 had Veiby leading while László Kiss outsmarted Rytkönen for the second place. Stuck behind the Hungarian, Rytkönen took the Joker earlier. Sérgio Dias tried his best, but a nervous Ford Fiesta RX and a puncture took him out of contention, while Veiby went straight to victory and Turpeinen took back the second place from Kiss.
Semifinal 1 was already under the floodlights, with Kristoffersson outpacing Pailler while Turpeinen defended himself from Ollie O’Donovan. O’Donovan and Münnich took the Joker early to push under clean air and the plan worked for O’Donovan as Turpeinen had a puncture, securing the third position while Kristoffersson and Pailler were isolated in first and second, respectively.
The second Semifinal had the other O’Donovan in the front row with Ole Christian Veiby, and the KMS driver barged his way past Patrick O’Donovan, only to suffer the reversal with a front right puncture in the argy bargy, restablishing O’Donovan in first with Rytkönen in second and László Kiss chasing Veiby for third. Veiby’s presistance had a price, and the puncture led to a spin that allowed Kiss to take third place while defending from Kárai, and while Patrick O’Donovan and Rytkönen settled for first and second, Kiss only beat Kárai at the finish line for a spot in the Final.
The Final had Kristoffersson doing his usual dominant run from the inside, shutting down Patrick O’Donovan and boxing Pailler. O’Donovan had pace to chase Kristoffersson, but rear end stability wasn’t the to match the pace in the long term, and even though Ollie O’Donovan shielded the top 2 from Rytkönen and Pailler, Patrick didn’t have the pace to attack Kristoffersson, allowing the Swede to take the win.
Lousada RX I - Event results
While there is still the Sunday event to settle things down, Kristoffersson has 197 points over the 161 of Bakkerud, which leaves almost no margin for a turnaround.
PHOTO: FIA Rallycross Championships
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