Johan Kristoffersson delivered the perfect weekend at World RX of Norway today (Sunday). He won everything. Everything.
Round five was about one team: PSRX Volkswagen Sweden; one car: Volkswagen Polo R Supercar and our man: Johan. The superstar Swede’s domination of Hell moves him further clear at the top of the drivers’ standings. Repeating his Norwegian win of 12 months ago, Johan now leads his nearest rival by 31 points.
“What an incredible weekend," said Kristoffersson. "I have to say from the start of the weekend I felt really comfortable with the car – it’s amazing when you have the car in your hands like this, you feel you do exactly what you want.
“This Polo responds perfectly to what I ask and knowing I have a car like that under me gives such confidence. It’s also exactly what we need in rallycross, when you have to change direction so quickly, you need everything to be working like this – it needs to be like the glove on your hand and that’s what we had this weekend.
“This is such a nice race, I love to win here. OK, Sweden is my home, but I live close [to here] and this victory is nice, but at the same time the 30 points is even more important.
“What we have to say again here is that this was another fantastic performance from PSRX Volkswagen Sweden. We had the strategy and it worked well – the final was quite OK when we came out of the first corner P1 and two. It’s fantastic to have my team-mate with me on the podium.” Not only was this Johan’s fourth win from five rounds, but also PSRX Volkswagen Sweden’s third double podium of the season with local hero Petter Solberg finishing third in the sister Polo R Supercar.
“This was a good weekend," said Petter, "it was what I needed to come back from a bit of a disappointment in Silverstone. “The final was a bit crazy – or at least the first corner was. I got off the line really well, but after that when I got to the bend, the cars were everywhere and I was sure I would hit one of them or take some damage. But I got away, I got through and then I drove to my plan. “There’s not much more I could have done this weekend, to get the podium is what I needed. It would have been nice to be one-two with Johan, but third is good; it’s a strong, strong result for the team and to see PSRX Volkswagen Sweden moving clear at the top is really important. “The one thing I have to say again is a big thank you to all the fans. They are always incredible when we come here, but this time they were even more. If I had the time I would go to thank every one of them, but I think they are a little bit too much!”
More than 24,000 fans turned out to cheer the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team on and the reigning champions didn’t disappoint. Johan led from the start of the final, while Petter rocketed into second place – his lightening reactions being rewarded with the Monster Supercharger Award – and only lost out late in the final when he slipped from second to third.
Driver
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 SF F Johan Kristoffersson 1 1 1 1 1 1 Petter Solberg 3 4 3 8 3 3
Volkswagen R Performance fact of the weekend: During the course of the six lap final, the engine will inhale as much air as one of our drivers would in five days. Result: 1 Johan Kristoffersson 3m54.906s 2 Mattias Ekström 3m55.694s 3 Petter Solberg 3m57.422s 4 Kevin Hansen 3m58.571s 5 Timmy Hansen 4m04.208s 6 Andreas Bakkerud 4m06.163s Drivers’ championship positions: 1 Kristoffersson 135pts 2 Loeb 104pts 3 Solberg 102pts 4 Bakkerud 101pts 5 Ekström 97pts 6 Timmy Hansen 94pts