Johan Kristoffersson took his fourth win of the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship in Hell, Norway today, claiming a clean sweep of wins in every session for the second time in World RX history.
Kristoffersson dominated from the outset of the weekend, taking victory in all four qualifying races, the semi-final and then the final. The only other driver to achieve this is EKS Audi Sport’s Andreas Bakkerud around the same track in 2016.
The only driver who looked close to challenging Kristoffersson in the final was Team Peugeot Total‘s Timmy Hansen, who lined up alongside his compatriot on the front row of the grid. But, the bad luck that has plagued Hansen throughout the season continued today when he was caught up in a first corner incident.
In the madness of the start, Mattias Ekström squeezed Hansen, who almost spun and punted himself into the side of Bakkerud. This dropped the two drivers down the order, with Ekstrom capitalising on the situation and moving himself up into third. Petter Solberg and Kevin Hansen were also promoted from the back row of the grid.
Ekstrom and Kevin Hansen decided to joker on the first lap, leaving them time to chase down the lead pair of the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden drivers. Kristoffersson looked untouchable, pulling a gap early on, but Solberg couldn’t stay with him, leaving him vulnerable when he jokered.
When the home favourite did joker, Ekstrom was able to pounce. He made his way up into second, but Hansen wasn’t quite able to go with him, meaning he just missed out on his first podium in World RX. By this point, Kristoffersson had built a sizeable lead and so got out of his joker lap far enough of Ekstrom to not be bothered by him.
This was Kristoffersson’s thirteenth win in World RX and leaves him comfortably at the top of the Driver’s Championship standings.
