Twenty-four hours earlier, Kristoffersson’s
challenge had ended in the Turn One tyre barriers after an acrimonious clash
with countryman Kevin Hansen. The six-time world champion found himself in
similar strife in Sunday’s second heat following a squeeze with Timmy Hansen
and Niclas Grönholm, but even with a damaged car, he still managed to set
fastest lap – and in both the semi-final and final, he led from lights-to-flag.
Kristoffersson’s margin of victory at the end
of the final was a crushing 10.8sec over his closest pursuer, KMS – HORSE Powertrain
team-mate Ole Christian Veiby, as he spearheaded a sustainably-fuelled combustion-engine
one-two in the fourth instalment of World RX’s new ‘Battle of Technologies’.
“Yesterday wasn’t a great day, but today was much
better!” the 35-year-old acknowledged. “Big thanks to the team. They worked extremely
hard last night to make repairs and gave me a very fast car.
“It’s been a great first experience here in
Hungary and it’s been nice to see so many fans. I got a good start in the final
and could then control the race from there – I wasn’t pushing hard. I just tried
to drive smoothly and avoid making any mistakes. If I’d needed a real ‘killer’
lap, I’m pretty sure I could have gone quicker...”
Veiby deployed an opening lap joker in the
final to undercut several of his competitors and complete a perfect result for
the Kristoffersson Motorsport-run outfit, with Klara Andersson best-placed of
the electric brigade in third in her CE Dealer Team by Volvo Construction
Equipment PWR RX1e. The Swede took a gamble by bolting on wet-weather tyres for
the last race of the weekend, and her reward for a gritty display in fending
off the two Hansen siblings was a second podium finish of the campaign.
Timmy Hansen hassled Andersson throughout the
final, but the former world champion was ultimately unable to find a way past
and had to settle for fourth ahead of younger brother Kevin, meaning the
rostrum continues to elude Hansen World RX Team in 2024.
René Münnich wound up sixth after progressing
to the final for the first time this year, but there was frustration for Saturday
winner Niclas Grönholm, whose bid was curtailed when he retired from the
semi-final. There was similarly no podium repeat for home hero Janko Wieszt,
who secured second place in the intermediate ranking only to subsequently make
heavy contact with the wall.
In the support series, there was a sense of déjà-vu,
as Nils Andersson (RX2e), Patrick O’Donovan (Euro RX1) and Nils Volland (Euro
RX3) all replicated their success from the Höljes curtain-raiser three weeks
earlier. Volland crossed the finish line second, before being elevated to first
by a post-race penalty for on-the-road winner João Ribeiro.
The World RX season continues with another
double-header duel at Mettet in Belgium on 17-18 August.
FINAL RESULT: WORLD RX
1. Johan KRISTOFFERSSON (SWE) KMS - Horse Powertrain (ICE) 5 laps
2. Ole Christian VEIBY (NOR) KMS - Horse Powertrain (ICE) + 10.809s
3. Klara ANDERSSON (SWE) CE Dealer Team (EV) + 13.342s
4. Timmy HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World RX Team (EV) + 13.765s
5. Kevin HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World RX Team (EV) + 14.765s
6. René MÜNNICH (DEU) ALL-INKL.COM Muennich
Motorsport (ICE) + 19.384s
Full
results for all categories can be found here.
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