Thomas Bryntesson secured his first victory in the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars in very difficult conditions at the Temple of Rallycross, otherwise known as Loheac in France.
The Swedish driver, who is also in the fight for the 2017 RallyX Nordic Championship as well, enjoyed a successful Qualifying where he stayed within the top three places during the first three sessions. With wet weather hampering the running of Q4, Bryntesson finished eighth fastest to end up as the Top Qualifier when all was said and done.
Bryntesson leads the Supercar Final at the Euro RX of France. Credit: IMG / FIA World RX
Bryntesson carried this form forward into the Semi-Finals where he finished in second place behind Hungarian driver Tamas Pal Kiss. This put the JC Raceteknik driver on the middle row alongside Championship leader Anton Marklund for the Supercar Final.
The Swedish driver stayed out of trouble on the first lap where he went on to take the lead of the race in his Ford Fiesta at the end of lap one. After taking his joker on lap five, Bryntesson stayed ahead of the fast charging Kiss to take his maiden win in the 2017 FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars.
Thomas Bryntesson, winner of the 2017 Euro RX of France. Credit: JC Raceteknik/McKlein
Bryntesson was overjoyed at taking success over what was a difficult weekend.
“For sure this is the best result of my career, it’s the first year in Supercar for me, we have improved with every race and now finally we are on the top so it feels amazing,” explained the Swedish driver.
“I struggled a bit to find the speed in the rain, but in the semi-final and final everything worked really well. Everything can happen in Latvia, we’ll try to secure second place. I’m really confident with the team, we worked really well today.”
Despite being in his first season of Euro RX Supercars, Bryntesson lies in second place in the Drivers Championship. Credit: JC Raceteknik/McKlein
Thanks to taking this win, Bryntesson now sits in second place in the Drivers Championship, eighteen points behind leader Anton Marklund. The final round of the series takes place at the Riga circuit in Latvia on September 15-17.
