Following Saturday’s disappointment – when a
late puncture denied him a podium finish around the Circuit Jules Tacheny –
Kristoffersson entered the second day of World RX of Benelux eager to bounce
back. Behind the wheel of his sustainably-fuelled, combustion-engined
Volkswagen Polo KMS 601 RX, he did so in style.
Having prevailed in both of his heat races –
despite not exiting Turn One in front on either occasion – the KMS - HORSE
Powertrain star duly lined up on pole position for the opening semi-final,
which he controlled from lights-to-flag.
The Swede subsequently produced a repeat
display in the final, fending off a fast-starting Niclas Grönholm into the
first corner and thereafter never looking back as he crossed the finish line
almost five seconds ahead of his closest pursuer. His fourth win from six
rounds in 2024 increases his advantage at the summit of the Drivers’ standings to 39 points.
“I must say a big ‘thank you’ to the team,”
Kristoffersson reflected. “They gave us a great car and we were consistently
quick, and today, we managed to pull everything together. I’m very happy, and
it was nice to have OC [Veiby – team-mate] on the podium as well collecting
more important points towards the championship. That said, our competitors are
doing a good job too and the times got increasingly tight, so we have to keep
pushing.”
If Kristoffersson’s path to the highest step
of the podium was relatively untroubled, the fight behind the championship
leader was fierce. Kevin Hansen emerged on top of that particular tussle to
reach the rostrum for the second time this weekend, despite finding the rear of
his electric Peugeot 208 RX1e lifted up into the air in Turn One by Veiby’s VW,
which had itself been briefly airborne shortly after the start.
The battle-scarred Hansen narrowly pipped
Veiby to the runner-up spoils, the Swede responding to the Norwegian’s lap two
joker by following suit next time around and chopping across the nose of his rival
on the blast towards the first corner to cement second place.
Veiby wound up barely half-a-second further
back in third – posting the race’s fastest lap, as he had done 24 hours earlier
– with Grönholm and Saturday winner Timmy Hansen similarly in hot pursuit, the
quartet blanketed by less than three-quarters-of-a-second at the chequered flag
in a breathless finish.
Klara Andersson completed the finalists in
sixth in the second CE Dealer Team by Volvo Construction Equipment entry, while
the support series saw victories for home hero Kobe Pauwels in RX2e – on the
Belgian’s rallycross return – championship leader Patrick O’Donovan in Euro RX1
and João Ribeiro in Euro RX3.
World RX’s ‘Battle of Technologies’ will
continue at Montalegre in Portugal on 7-8 September.
FINAL RESULT: WORLD RX
1. Johan KRISTOFFERSSON (SWE) KMS -
Horse Powertrain (ICE) 5 laps
2. Kevin HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World
RX Team (EV) + 4.712s
3. Ole Christian VEIBY (NOR) KMS -
Horse Powertrain (ICE) + 4.969s
4. Niclas GRÖNHOLM (FIN) CE Dealer
Team (EV) + 5.266s
5. Timmy HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World
RX Team (EV) + 5.451s
6. Klara ANDERSSON (SWE) CE Dealer
Team (EV) + 10.121s
Full results for all categories can be found here.
Greece
Poland
Portugal