WRX cancels Belgium race after fire - Kristoffersson wins in RX2e guest start

After the race cancellation of the Lydden Hill round, the World Rallycross Championship has also canceled its races in Mettet (Belgium) scheduled for last weekend. The reason for this is the ongoing investigation surrounding the devastating fire that broke out in Special ONE Racing's garage area during a battery charging process two weeks ago. The support series rounds took place anyway, as they did in the U.K. - the win was taken by a WRX star who unceremoniously competed in RX2e.

The drivers who switched from the RX1e to the RX2e class included the racers of the two top teams Hansen and Kristoffersson. Johan Kristoffersson and Ole Christian Veiby as well as Kevin and Timmy Hansen sat in the RX2e car on Saturday and Sunday. Especially for the young drivers, who are permanently racing in the support series, this was an exciting opportunity to learn from their role models. Furthermore, in addition to Catie Munnings, Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Laia Sanz, another Extreme E driver bolstered the field: Molly Taylor gave her debut with #YellowSquad.

Only Timmy Hansen and Johan Kristoffersson made it to the final, however, as Veiby rolled over in the semi-final and Kevin Hansen received a time penalty for cutting a corner. Kristoffersson dominated the final from the front and didn't take much notice of the chaos that ensued behind. At the start, Timmy Hansen was sandwiched between Nils Andersson and Marko Muru and dropped back to fifth position. He also retired with one lap to go.

Kristoffersson wins at RX2e guest start

There was a collision behind between Ole Henry Steinsholt, Muru and Andersson, causing Muru to barely catch the corner and narrowly avoid an accident. Steinsholt slipped through to second place and saved this result over the finish line. However, he was given a 12-second penalty after the race for causing the accident and so only finished in fifth place. Behind them, Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Muru were now fighting for 2nd place, as Andersson was no longer able to keep up due to technical problems. The Swede had the better end after some more contact on the last lap.

The WRX drivers do not receive points in the overall standings so as not to influence the title fight, which is why Andersson - since Vranckx had withdrawn from the championship at short notice - leads the overall standings ahead of teammate Ahlin-Kottulinsky. Isak Sjökvist had not reached the final and thus could not make up any points on his compatriot. In two weeks, the third champion the series will be crowned in Buxtehude (Germany).

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport	3:51.755 min
2	Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky	Kristoffersson Motorsport	+10.287 s
3	Marko Muru	SET Promotion	+13,512 s
4	Nils Andersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport	+13.728 s
5	Ole Henry Steinsholt	Ole Henry Steinsholt	+14.950 s
6	Timmy Hansen	Hansen World RX Team	+1 lap

WRX overall standings