2017 FIA World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson has started off the 2018 season with a win in Spain, after rival Mattias Ekstrom was excluded for contact with Kristoffersson’s ream-mate Petter Solberg.
Regardless of this, the Swedish driver leads the World Championship as the series heads to the next round of the season, the 2018 World RX of Portugal. Its a circuit that holds good memories for the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden driver as he scored his first World RX win there.
Kristoffersson has good memories in Portugal, where he took his first World RX victory. Credit: IMG / FIA World RX
However, its the teams performance in last years Portuguese event that troubles Kristoffersson as he took second place overall whilst Solberg lost out on the chance of a win with a puncture.
“The memories of this race are a little bit mixed. it’s the place where I scored my first ever World Rallycross Championship win in 2015, so it’s a special one for me,” explains Kristoffersson.
“But then last year Petter and I were pretty strong in the heats, but that didn’t transfer to Sunday afternoon. I scored my first podium with PSRX Volkswagen Sweden with third place, but there was a bit of frustration when we left.”
With a positive outlook already in place for this weekends event, the former Scandinavian Touring Car Champion has already seen the benefits of the improved 2018 Volkswagen Polo Supercar.
Kristoffersson survived a difficult weekend to take the championship after the first round. Credit: IMG / FIA World RX
He is looking forward to increasing his learning of the car as further development takes place.
“Barcelona was a good weekend that turned great for me. I have to admit, the first heats were not so strong, I was struggling to get comfortable with the car in the really wet conditions,” said Kristoffersson
“We had made some changes to the Polo R Supercar and trying to find the feeling when there is virtually no grip and certainly no consistent grip is so difficult. It’ll be good to get back to Montalegre and make more progress from last season. I think we have good potential in Portugal.”
