Reigning European Rallycross and RallyX Nordic champion Robin Larsson made his return to the FIA World Rallycross Championship this weekend as he continues to race for JC Raceteknik squad but under a new team and banner for 2020.
The KYB Team JC is a new team for the 2020 season, originally planned for Larsson and Janis Baumanis compete in the full-season together, but that’s not the case now as Baumanis will miss most of the season due to financial problems caused by COVID-19. The opening double-header weekend saw former World Champion Mattias Ekström step in for the weekend.
Ekström claimed a podium and a win during the weekend but for Larsson, he didn’t have similar luck as his team mate.
On the opening-round held on Saturday, Larsson was one of the favourites to win the final as he has won at the RallyX Nordic’s ‘All-Star Magic Weekend’ earlier this summer in the same Audi S1 EKS RX Quattro.
But that didn’t happen, Larsson was struggling to find the right pace on Saturday and missed out a spot in the final, but the luck was on his side for the Sunday’s second round, where he finished in the top five times throughout the qualifying sessions and also claimed the front-row start in the final by beating his team mate Ekström in the semi-final.
Unfortunately this was as far as the luck stretched, as he was chasing down the current championship leader Johan Kristoffersson he picked up a puncture in the middle of the race, that saw him fall down the field leaving him to settle for fifth place.
“It was a good first World RX weekend for the team. It was intense, but we were consistently in the top five. Having Mattias has been a very big bonus for me and the whole team.” Larsson said.
“It just shows how important it is to have a fast driver like him by your side, we took tips from each other and without him I probably would not have been able to continue to develop my speed. I hope we see more of him this season.“
“The puncture in the final today was a shame because it would have been perfect to have a one-two in the final. It was also sad to miss the final yesterday, but in terms of points things look good in the Teams’ Championship and I too scored good points. That Mattias beat Johan on pure pace shows we can fight with him. We’ve done the best we can as a team and we will carry that to Finland.”
