On paper, Johan Kristoffersson’s 45th FIA World Rallycross Championship victory at Montalegre should not have been possible, so heavily did the odds look to be stacked against him – but the word ‘impossible’ is rarely in the Swede’s vocabulary.
Conventional wisdom said that Montalegre – located 1,000 metres above sea level in the Vila Real mountains and with the longest main straight on the World RX calendar – would be EV territory, when Kristoffersson drives a sustainably-fuelled, combustion-engined Volkswagen Polo KMS 601 RX. No matter – he won both of his heat races anyway.
The odds seemed to be stacked against him again when contact in his semi-final resulted in suspension damage that threatened to rule the Arvika native out of the final – but neither Kristoffersson nor his KMS – HORSE Powertrain team have ever been the kind to lay down without a fight.
Following a herculean repair effort by his crew, the 35-year-old lined up in third position and held his ground around the outside of the first corner to climb to second. He proceeded to hound Niclas Grönholm throughout, prior to undercutting his rival with a pristine penultimate lap joker to which the Finn had no answer. What’s more, his fifth triumph from seven rounds in 2024 has carried Kristoffersson to within touching distance of an extraordinary seventh career crown.
“This is a real team victory after an amazing job to get my car back onto the grid for the final. Montalegre is such an enjoyable circuit to drive and the Volkswagen has always suited the track well, and we spent the past few weeks looking at everything we could do to be as fast as possible. Niclas [Grönholm] had great pace in the final, but I just managed to make the difference when it mattered.”
the reigning world champion reflected
Having similarly kept a clean sheet during the heats, pole-sitter Grönholm was disappointed to wind up second, missing out on the top step of the podium by less than four-tenths-of-a-second – the vast majority of which he lost in the joker.
The CE Dealer Team by Volvo Construction Equipment star could nonetheless take some encouragement from posting the fastest lap of the day – half a second quicker than anybody else was able to muster – as World RX’s innovative ‘Battle of Technologies’ delivered its closest duel so far.
Kevin Hansen rounded out the rostrum with a third consecutive top three finish behind the wheel of his electric Peugeot 208 RX1e, having at one stage appeared to be on-course for victory himself. The Swede lost some time overtaking Ole Christian Veiby and also avoiding a tyre stack dragged onto the racing line by Hansen World RX Team stablemate Timmy Hansen, whose challenge came unstuck when he ploughed spectacularly into the wall at the end of the opening tour.
Despite a sluggish start, Veiby took the chequered flag fourth for KMS – HORSE Powertrain, with René Münnich securing a season-high fifth in his ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport-run SEAT Ibiza. Fellow ICE competitor Anthony Pelfrene, meanwhile, was arguably the unluckiest driver of the day, unleashing an impressive turn-of-speed in his Peugeot 208 WRX and looking set to reach the final for the first time until contact with Kristoffersson towards the end of the pair’s semi-final sent him into a spin.
The action continues on Sunday, 8 September with the remaining heats, semi-finals and finals in the support series and round eight of the 2024 World RX campaign.
FINAL RESULT: WORLD RX
1. Johan KRISTOFFERSSON (SWE) KMS – Horse Powertrain (ICE) 5 laps
2. Niclas GRÖNHOLM (FIN) CE Dealer Team (EV) + 0.398s
3. Kevin HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World RX Team (EV) + 2.895s
4. Ole Christian VEIBY (NOR) KMS – Horse Powertrain (ICE) + 5.654s
5. René MÜNNICH (DEU) ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport (ICE) + 12.374s
DNF Timmy HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World RX Team (EV) + 4 laps
Full results for all categories can be found at www.fiaworldrallycross.com
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