Volkswagen RX Sweden driver Johan Kristoffersson put every effort possible into making sure that he kept himself in the fight for second place in the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship, however the tight nature of the Estering circuit meant that he would end up finishing in sixth place at the World RX of Germany.
The Swedish driver kept a consistent pace during Qualifying and this saw him through the Semi-Final stages where Kristoffersson was fast enough to secure a spot in the Final itself. However a deflated left tyre during the race would see the former STCC champion finish in sixth place, but stay in the fight for second place in the Drivers Championship.
Johan Kristoffersson in the Volkswagen RX Sweden Polo Supercar. Credit: Volkswagen RX Sweden
Kristoffersson was was pleased with his performance in Germany, “It felt like we were fighting from the back a little bit this weekend. I didn’t have any luck getting good start positions in the qualifying races. I think my best position out of the first corner was third all weekend, so we had to fight hard,” said Kristoffersson.
“We had great speed to make it into the semi-final and we had a good grid position. I felt we would be able to show what we could do, but then I stalled at the start. That was very annoying and I just fought hard to get into the final. We had the quickest lap of the day in the semi-final, and we were fighting for a podium in the final but I got a puncture and that was that. It’s really good we scored a lot of points and we will push hard to be fast in Argentina.”
Team-mate Anton Marklund endured another difficult weekend where traffic in the tight knit German circuit meant that translating fast times into Qualifying positions was very difficult with such a competitive field in action. Marklund would finish in 15th place and miss out on a place in the Semi-Finals once again.
Anton Marklund in the Volkswagen RX Sweden Polo Supercar. Credit: Volkswagen RX Sweden
However the young Swedish driver is looking forward to better luck at the season finale in Argentina, “It was a tough weekend for sure. The team did an amazing job running three cars, and especially with changing from dry to wet setup several times,” said Marklund.
“We have struggled with the starts a bit and bad starts don’t give you the best opportunities. Unfortunately I got stuck in traffic and lost a lot of time, but the pace was there. I’m really looking forward to Argentina, the car is perfect and I really believe we can have a good result there.”
Two time Red Bull Global Rallycross Champion Tanner Foust joined the Volkswagen RX Sweden squad for his second World RX outing of the year, however the American driver suffered several car issues during the event which stopped him from progressing to the Semi-Finals. Foust would be classified in 18th position.
Tanner Foust in the Volkswagen RX Sweden Polo Supercar. Credit: Volkswagen RX Sweden
The American Driver hopes to increase his presence in World RX in 2017 though, “This is a track that’s very fun to drive and challenging to set the car up for, but yesterday we had some problems,” said Foust.
“This morning we had great power in the car and Q3 felt really good. It’s difficult to come in and just do one event. It used to be that I could come in and do one event once in a while and win. It’s not like that anymore, the level is really high which is awesome for the sport and it just makes me hungry to drive in World RX more often. Hopefully that will be the case next year.”
