Kristoffersson heads the field on day one in Hungary

The heat is rising in Hungary as FIA World Rallycross Championship Qualifying got underway today in Nyirád around the iconic ‘Red Cauldron’. After two of four Qualifying Heats it’s reigning champion Johan Kristoffersson who tops the provisional standings having put in a metronomic pace across today’s sessions – his race times across the two heats within just one tenth of a second of each other.

The famous first corner here, which was the Swede’s undoing in the first race in Hungary last year, almost looked to catch-out the seven-time World Champion once again, as a tap from behind sent him sideways on the apex on the first competitive lap of the weekend. He managed to gather it all together and hold on to the lead until the end of Q1.

In his second quali run it was KMS stablemate Ole Christian Veiby who got the best start and led the opening lap, but the superior pace from Johan meant the positions were swapped once the jokers were completed.

Second in that heat and third overall in the first part of qualifying was enough for Veiby to make it a KMS 1-2 overnight, but behind the electric VW Polos the field is locked in a tight battle with drivers finding mixed fortunes across their heats. Current standings leader Niclas Grönholm sits in third position in the qualifying points table – a strong second place in Q1 was followed by a trickier Q2, where for much of the contest he was held up behind Timmy Hansen dropping him to sixth in the overall times for that session.

Despite seeming to struggle a little for outright pace in the Hansen Peugeot 208, Timmy is tied on qualifying points with the lead ICE-powered car of Patrick O’Donovan, who courtesy of a strong second heat is provisionally fourth, with Hansen classified fifth.

Klara Andersson is looking to recover the podium-pace she showed in Hungary last season in her CE Dealer Team car. Fifth in both her heats nets sixth place in the standings overnight, ahead of another pair of drivers tied on points with Juha Rytkönen and Kevin Hansen seventh and eighth respectively having both run into on-track trouble today.

For Rytkönen, it has been trouble of a technical nature, with turbo issues plaguing his PGRX Hyundai i20. Despite this, the Finn will be happy with his first heat start, which saw him blast into the lead in his sustainably-fuelled ICE-powered car before the technical issues took hold of his race.

Rytkönen’s beleaguered car held Kevin Hansen up in his first heat, and he dropped back several places as the joker strategies played out. Then, in his second heat, the younger of the Hansen brothers fell foul of an unfortunate merge with Klara Andersson rejoining from her joker lap. The slightest of touches at just the wrong time sent the Hansen car sliding into the barrier, and while he was able to continue, the time lost means he has a mountain to climb to secure a strong position in tomorrow’s all-important semi-finals and final.

There are two more qualifying heats in store for the World RX stars tomorrow morning that will decide the order for the semi-finals. With more action sure to play out, the grid order for the final remains anybody’s guess as the sun sets on day one in Hungary.

You can re-watch all of today’s action on the FIA World Rallycross Championship YouTube Channel, and as ever, all of tomorrow’s racing will be streamed there live and free.

Click here to view the provisional qualifying classification for the World RX of Hungary.