The unstoppable force that is Johan Kristoffersson once again walked away from an FIA World Rallycross Championship weekend with another victory and in doing so helped secure the Teams’ Championship title for the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden squad for a second year running.
Despite the result at the end of the weekend, it wasn’t plain sailing throughout the event as four different drivers took the quickest times of the four qualifying races, Petter Solberg in Q1, Kristoffersson in Q2, Mattias Ekström in Q3 and Timmy Hansen in Q4.
Kristoffersson and Ekström took the honours in the two semi-final races, with Solberg, Kevin Hansen, Andreas Bakkerud and Niclas Grönholm all securing final spots.
Kevin Eriksson narrowly missed out with fourth place in the semis while Robin Larsson took fifth as Sebastien Loeb retired after an altercation with Eriksson.
Janis Baumanis finished his semi-final in fourth place ahead of Anton Marklund and Timmy Hansen, both drivers were forced to retire after first corner contact, Hansen was later disqualified for his part in the incident.
The final was a chaotic affair, Kevin Hansen was lucky to avoid serious injury when his car speared off head on in to a barrier, coming to an abrupt halt.
Kristoffersson was the ultimate victor, but it was the two EKS Audi Sport cars of Ekström and Bakkerud that took the final two podium spots.
“It was a really tricky final but first of all I’m very happy that we are Teams’ Champions. I’m very, very happy to win of course but also that I proved the homework that I’ve done really paid off,” said Kristoffersson.
“This track is very challenging and there is always hard fighting. The first corner is always crucial, the launches are crucial so I’m very happy to be able to win on this track.”
With Solberg classed as fifth in the final and Ekström in second, the Swede increased his chances of taking second place in the World RX Drivers’ Championship, something he was very happy about. “We’re happy about having finished on podium with both Audi cars,” said Ekstrom.
“We’d been hoping for victory and came very close, but not close enough. The competition was very strong once again. However, there’s one more race to go. We’re continuing to work hard and fight. I believe in this team and we’re going to give our all to close the season in South Africa with a victory and runner-up finish.”
Third placed Bakkerud celebrated his sixth podium of the season, “It’s been a crazy weekend as it always is here in Estering. It’s always exciting and there’s always a lot of stuff that’s unpredictable,” he said.
“Both myself and Mattias qualified for the front row of semi-final two, he had a fantastic start and beat me in the semi. I was second in the first start of the final then in the restart I managed to stay behind Johan and Mattias and finished third. It’s a great feeling for the whole team that both EKS Audi Sport cars finished on the podium.”
While Solberg was forced to retire from the race with a technical issue on lap five, he did pick up the Monster Energy Supercharge award for the fastest reaction time in the final.
