World RX – Female drivers shine at the World RX of Norway
Female drivers stole the limelight at the World RX of Norway, with Klara Andersson, Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky, Cristina Gutierrez and Mandie August all reaching their respective finals.
Andersson finished fourth in the World RX final, despite losing valuable track time earlier in the day after technical issues with her CE Dealer Team PWR RX1e.
Ahlin-Kottulinsky finished third in an exciting RX2e final in her Kristoffersson Motorsport ‘Team E’ car, while Gutierrez came home fifth in her Zeroid Motorsport machine. Catie Munnings had also been on impressive form, scoring her maiden RX2e race win in her #YellowSquad car en route to the semi-final stage.
August narrowly missed out on a podium yet was delighted to score a career-best fourth in the Euro RX1 final, having earlier won a heat in her All-Inkl.Com Münnich Motorsport SEAT Ibiza.
But taking away maximum FIA World Rallycross Championship points for the second time this year and extending his World RX lead was Johan Kristoffersson, who was untouchable around the undulating Lånkebanen circuit.
Having set the fastest time on the single-lap SuperPole, the defending World RX champion dominated all four of his heats, his semi-final and the final to score his 37th career victory in the FIA World Rallycross Championship’s milestone 100th round.
“The field is getting tighter and tighter,” admitted the Volkswagen RX1e driver.
“We went to Montalegre and were quick and now we’ve come here, to a very different type of track, and we’ve been quick again. It’s been a challenge with the track conditions constantly changing, and I played it smart and tried not to get involved in too many incidents.”
Behind the Swede, a brutal battle played out for the honour of finishing ‘best-of-the-rest’. Ultimately, it was Niclas Grönholm who prevailed in that particular fight as the Finn secured the runner-up spoils for CE Dealer Team.
In only his second outing in World RX’s electric era, double DTM champion Timo Scheider ascended the podium for the first time in almost three years with a stellar performance behind the wheel of his Münnich Motorsport SEAT Ibiza RX1e.
Klara Andersson took fourth, replicating the result that she achieved on her impressive World RX debut in Hell last summer, while Sébastien Loeb was promoted to fifth in his Lancia Delta Evo-e RX after Ole Christian Veiby was disqualified after losing so much of his Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS car’s bodywork that the car failed the post-final weight test.
Veiby had also been disqualified from heat four after a clash with Timmy Hansen, which ruled the Hansen World RX Team driver out for the rest of the event.
Brother Kevin Hansen didn’t make it to the final either after his Peugeot 208 RX1e picked up a puncture on the opening lap of the semi-final.
Gustav Bergström (Volkswagen RX1e) and Guerlain Chicherit (Lancia Delta Evo RX1e) were also eliminated at the semi-final stage.
In RX2e, Isak Sjökvist got his title challenge off to the perfect start with a win first time out for Hansen Motorsport junior outfit #YellowSquad.
An emotional Sivert Svardal described his breakthrough Euro RX1 victory as ‘the best day of his life’ after holding off defending champion Anton Marklund by the tiniest of margins.
Nils Volland was similarly a first-time winner in Euro RX3, leading home a Volland Racing one-two-three.
The season continues on 1-2 July with another full bill of racing at Höljes in Sweden – rallycross’ legendary ‘Magic Weekend’ – featuring World RX, RX2e, Euro RX1 and Euro RX3.
FINAL RESULT: WORLD RX
1. Johan KRISTOFFERSSON (SWE) Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS 5 laps
2. Niclas GRÖNHOLM (FIN) CE Dealer Team + 1.755s
3. Timo SCHEIDER (DEU) ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport + 3.675s
4. Klara ANDERSSON (SWE) CE Dealer Team + 5.438s
5. Sébastien LOEB (FRA) Special ONE Racing + 6.798s
DSQ. Ole Christian VEIBY (NOR) Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS