Johan Kristoffersson sweeped the opening day of action at the World RX of Finland to take his second win of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship season.
Having topped each of the three qualifying sessions Kristoffersson won his semi-final before going on to do what he had done all day, get to turn one in first and stay there for the rest of the day.
He was in imperious form and nobody could get near the two-time champion in Kouvola.
The big surprise was Finnish national rallycross champion Juha Rytkönen taking second place for GRX Set Promotion. Rytkönen won his semi-final having beat Mattias Ekström off the line and used his track knowledge to get onto the podium in his World RX debut.
Defending champion Timmy Hansen followed Kristoffersson home in the semi-final and final but lost out to Rytkönen as he exited from the joker lap on the final lap. Hansen managed to fend off Niclas Grönholm to take his first podium of the year despite Gronholm pushing him all the way to the end.
Grönholm showed good pace all day but traffic cost the Finn throughout the day. Time Scheider made it a hat-trick of final appearances as he continued to maximise his results in the All-Inkl.Com Munnich Motorsport car.
Kevin Hansen made the final after a gutsy move in semi-final two. Having lost out at the start, Hansen dived down the inside of Scheider and Robin Larsson at turn two to get onto the second row of the grid for the last race of the day.
Ahead of the final there were some big surprises. In the second semi-final, both Kyb Team JC drivers failed to finish the race. Ekström was running in second place behind Rytkönen until a technical issue ended his day early.
Teammate Robin Larsson was muscled out by Kevin Hansen and Scheider before he had a problem of his own and came to a hault.
A smoking Anton Marklund barely made the grid in semi-final one as he failed to complete the race whilst Andreas Bakkerud could only finish fourth as he was undercut by Grönholm who took an early joker.
The action from the World RX of Finland continues tomorrow as the drivers and teams will do it all again. Can anyone topple the mighty Kristoffersson?
World RX of Finland Final Result
| Pos. | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Johan KRISTOFFERSSON | 04:04.669 |
| 2. | Juha RYTKÖNEN | 04:07.779 |
| 3. | Timmy HANSEN | 04:08.731 |
| 4. | Niclas GRÖNHOLM | 04:08.962 |
| 5. | Timo SCHEIDER | 04:09.996 |
| 6. | Kevin HANSEN | 04:11.304 |
