CHAMPION MAKES IT 10 WINS IN 2018
KRISTOFFERSSON LANDS MORE WRX GLORY IN GERMANY
Less than 20 minutes after crossing the finish line first at Estering, via a visit to the podium, already crowned World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson crossed the dirt road between the rostrum and the media centre at the German venue heading for the press conference.
Before making it to the interview area, the Swede stopped by a timing screen and stared. With the kind of swift data analysis that would take a normal person significantly more time, the PSRX Volkswagen driver had digested the final results from the 11th round of the series, in which he had won for an incredible 10th time.
The self-proclaimed nerd turned to the nearest desk and asked, “What was the lap record?”
The now double FIA World champion of course knew what the lap record was prior to the latest event, the 35.227s he himself set 12 months earlier. But since then, the loose surfaces renowned for being rough had been redeveloped, cars have moved on further still and the times tumbled.
What the 2018 Swedish Touring Car champion really wanted to know was had he bettered the best time of the weekend so far. Indeed he had. On lap two of the final Kristoffersson set the fastest lap of the day, beating Niclas Gronholm’s best from the semi-finals, then on the next tour the double champion set the fastest lap of the weekend to take the lap record in 34.357s. That Kristoffersson seemed just as pleased with his lap time performance as he did with victory gives an indication as to his mindset, as did the fact that he so desperately wanted to win the German round.
“I was doing my homework for Buxtehude before we went to America [round 10 in Austin a fortnight earlier],” he admitted after the final. Having previously ‘only’ netted a best finish of fourth (in 2015) at the oldest circuit on the calendar, Kristoffersson arguably dropped the ball at Estering in 2017 having wrapped up the title a round earlier. He had got caught in the mid-pack melee in the semi-finals and didn’t make the final. This time around the circuit-racing bred Swede had done his homework, most notably on how best to make it around the first corner where rotating the car on gravel long before the apex is paramount, as the surface changes from loose to asphalt.
Although he was only fastest once in the qualifying stages, he again knew exactly how hard, and when, to really push in the final stages and proved just why he is on such an impeccable run by claiming another win. Behind Kristoffersson, Audi pair Mattias Ekstrom and Andreas Bakkerud were arguably closer than they’d been to the Volkswagen all year. Although they were pleased with a double podium, they were understandably more than a little disappointed not to have finished on the top step.
More aggrieved still were Kevin Hansen and Gronholm. Driving a third, older-spec 208 WRX for the works Peugeot squad, Hansen made the final having run with the fastest drivers through qualifying. In the predictable first corner scrum, as second-row starter Petter Solberg tried to go around the outside and visited the gravel trap, Ekstrom and Kristoffersson struck the outside barrier, Bakkerud snuck into the lead and Hansen challenged Kristoffersson for second in the run to Turn 2. Holding third, Hansen almost certainly had enough in hand to be able to joker and maintain position, but the 2016 European champion hit the wall on the inside of Turn 3 on lap four, which fired him head-on into the Armco on the outside of the corner at speed. With the car badly damaged, Hansen removed himself from the car but collapsed on the bank and the race was stopped. Hansen was taken first to the medical centre and then hospital, where he stayed overnight and was discharged.
On the restart, Kristoffersson took the lead and headed the field for the duration from the Audi duo, while Gronholm took an early joker and on another day may well have finished better than fourth. On yet another occasion this season, driving a WRCderived Hyundai i20 run by his father Marcus’ GRX squad, Gronholm was best of the drivers in the non-works backed cars and was right in the fight for a podium. If Hansen and Gronholm keep driving in the same way, a podium or even more won’t be far away.
Solberg was more conservative in the first corner of the second running of the final and took an early joker, but retired with engine failure on lap five. Regardless, his PSRX Volkswagen outfit secured the World RX teams’ crown with an event to spare.
While Volkswagen and Audi celebrated, it was a poor result for Peugeot as both Timmy Hansen and Sebastien Loeb didn’t make it through the semi-finals. Loeb retired after contact with Kevin Eriksson when trying to pass the Swede’s Ford Fiesta on the inside into Turn 2, while Hansen had first corner contact with Anton Marklund in semi-final one, which continued down the following straight. Marklund retired and Hansen was later disqualified from the race.
Marklund’s GCK team-mate Liam Doran, driving a third Prodrive-built Megane RS RX, had a difficult weekend. Starting in the outside grid slot and unable to make optimal starts, Doran got caught in traffic through the event. A race win in Q4 and seventh best time may have lifted him into the semifinals, but for being disqualified from the Q1 results for touching the launch control button on the handbrake in the first corner of his race. The Brit admitted a 0.1 second mistake rather than deliberate attempt to use the device as a way to control traction, but he would wind up 19th overall. Fellow Brit Oliver Bennett finished 15th.