Kristoffersson conquers Lousada and the Euro RX

It is a known fact that Johan Kristoffersson is a different beast on Sunday, no matter how slow or out of the ordinary his Saturdays are, and a combination of his usual prowess with one of the freakiest top level rallycross events ever seen saw the Kristoffersson Motorsport driver leave Lousada with the final win of the season and a title he still needed to add in his resume - the one from the FIA European Rallycross Championship.
 
Unlike the Saturday, Johan Kristoffersson had no issues like being boxed or pushed out of position, doing a clean sweep in Qualifying, while Patrick O’Donovan was second and Joni Turpeinen was third, though the man with pace to rival Kristoffersson was Fabien Pailler, but contact in the second heat sent him down to sixth. For Andreas Bakkerud, a fourth place with only glimpses of pace marked his Qualifying after the Saturday disaster.
 
Quarter Final 1 had Kristoffersson protecting the lead from Casper Jansson while Johannes Rafoss, László Kiss and Oliver Bennett crashed together, though only Bennett remained in the wall. With the transfer spots completely secure, Kristoffersson and Jansson just had to bring it home as they cruised at race speeds, while Rafoss got the final spot by being far ahead than Kiss and Bennett when he stopped.
 
The second race had Pailler leading Patrick O’Donovan, Tamás Kárai and José Oliveira while Anton Seppä tried a different strategy, which paid off once Leonardo Sampaio went to the Joker, and once Sampaio got tangled with Kárai, Seppä just had to follow Pailler and O’Donovan.
 
The third Quarter Final had a SET Promotion front row and Juha Rytkönen and Joni Turpeinen made the most of it while Ollie O’Donovan was giving Ole Christian Veiby a run for his money, but once the Joker was done, Veiby had the advantage, though he had nothing left to reach the SET 1-2.
 
The fourth one had Bakkerud leading Nils Volland before Sérgio Dias passed the German. Joaquim Machado tried his best, but with Volland pulling Dias, there was no way to change the positions already set out there.
 
In Semifinal 1, Rytkönen holds the inside line and keeps the lead while Kristoffersson and Veiby hunt him and Casper Jansson switches strategy for an early Joker. Tired of following Rytkönen, Kristoffersson goes to the Joker on Lap 4, but the split second that Veiby held Kristoffersson cost him the victory in the Final Lap, which went to Ryktönen.
 
Bakkerud was in the second Semifinal, trying to carry the Sunday as long as possible, but Pailler took the lead and Patrick O’Donovan became second while Anton Seppä was pressing Bakkerud. On Lap 3, Pailler left a gap and O’Donovan capitalized to take the lead, and what was just Bakkerud off the pace turned into a crawling Ford Fiest ST RX. In the end, O’Donovan won when Pailler had a puncture, though the Frenchman still got second place by holding up Nils Volland.
 
In the Final, Patrick O’Donovan was so buy with Rytkönen that forgot Johan Kristoffersson, and the KMS driver took the lead, but a lap later, a crash between Volland and Veiby stopped both cars in the middle of the track, with a red flag being brought as their cars were total wreckage. In the restart, Kristoffersson literally beats O’Donovan and Rytkönen’s Hyundai stalled, leaving a personal duel between Pailler and Kristoffersson. Pailler held it for a lap and a half, but damage took the best of his Renault Megane R.S. RX, with Kristoffersson taking the lead and carrying it over until the finish as Pailler crawled his way to second and the rest simply stood on the track.
 
Lousada RX II - Event results
 
While the champion was almost set before the Round 7, the table still had change at the top end, with Kristoffersson ending the season with 235 points while Rytkönen took Bakkerud’s place in second with 175, sending the Norwegian to third with 171 and throwing Veiby to fourth with 144. One curious point of the final table is that Rokas Baciuska finished in 12th position with 27 points despite doing a partial season, being the best part timer and even beating some drivers who committed to full time programs.
 
PHOTO: Kristoffersson Motorsport