Rallycross: Kristoffersson continues WRX winning streak, Timo Scheider takes podium in Hell

After his dominant start to the season Johan Kristoffersson also won every session he contested at the second race FIA World Rallycross weekend this year in Hell (Norway) - including the final on Sunday afternoon. There he prevailed over Niclas Grönholm and Timo Scheider, who in the first participation in a final for All-inkl.com Münnich Motorsport immediately drove on the podium. The biggest surprise of the day, however, was that none of the Hansen cars made it into the final.

Timmy Hansen's Peugeot could not be repaired in time for the semifinals after an accident with Ole Christian Veiby in the fourth heat. His brother Kevin tried to overtake the Kristoffersson cars in the semifinal 1 - as several times during the weekend - over the outer line, but had no success. After contact, he had to tow the car around the circuit with a puncture and thus missed out on a place in the final.

Scheider beat both Special One Racing drivers behind Kristoffersson, who were unable to keep up with the best this weekend, and bravely secured a place in the final. From the second semi-final, Niclas Grönholm, Ole Christian Veiby and Klara Andersson qualified for the final.

In the first turns of the final there were scuffles again: This time Veiby was squeezed between Kristoffersson and Grönholm and bumped at the rear by Loeb, causing severe damage to his car - even the tailgate had come loose. Scheider was able to profit from this, passing the Norwegian on the outside and from then on being in a podium position. The top three were no longer in danger after lap 1, only Klara Andersson was still able to overtake Veiby and finished fourth as in the previous year.

Result of the 2023 Rallycross Final Race in Hell

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time
1	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen dealer team BAUHAUS	3:16.656 min
2	Niclas Grönholm	Construction Equipment Dealerteam	+1.755 s
3	Timo Scheider	All-inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	+3.675 s
4	Klara Andersson	Construction Equipment Dealerteam	+5.438 s
5	Ole Christian Veiby	Volkswagen dealer team BAUHAUS	+6.372 s
6	Sebastian Loeb	Special One Racing	+6.798 s

 

Overall Standings WRX

RX2e: Isak Sjökvist wins season opener

It went better for the Hansen team in RX2e, where Isak Sjökvist took his first win of the season for the team. The Swede had already been battling for session wins throughout the weekend together with Nils Andersson. In the final, he made the most of his pole position and gave Kristoffersson junior Andersson and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky no chance to overtake him. Behind them, Filip Thoren went into the wall after some scuffling in the first corner.

Pablo Suarez and Cristina Gutierrez missed out on the podium. Earlier, Victor Vranckx had spun after driving over the curbs and then stopped in the gravel. He was eliminated in semifinal 1, while Ole Henry Steinsholt crashed with Catie Munnings, who was in a promising position, at the exit of her joker lap. As a result, they also missed out on the final. The next race for both Rallycross series is in two weeks in Höljes, Sweden.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time
1	Isak Sjökvist	#Yellowsquad	3:28.895 min
2	Nils Andersson	Team E	+0.566 s
3	Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky	Team E	+2.010 s
4	Pablo Suarez	Zeroid Motorsports	+3.742 s
5	Christina Gutierrez	Zeroid Motorsports	+8.302 s
6	Filip Thoren	Zeroid Motorsports	+17.014 s

 

Overall Standings RX2e