Heading into
the inaugural Battle of Technologies’ season finale holding a commanding 46-point
advantage over closest rival Kevin Hansen at the summit of the standings, barring
a disaster, it was very much a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ Kristoffersson
would get the job done – with the answer coming as early as heat two. And he
did it in epic fashion.
Having bided
his time behind Niclas Grönholm en route to second place in heat one,
the Arvika native was in no mood to hang back again. Just fourth exiting the
first corner as his electric rivals exploited their superior torque at the
start, Kristoffersson followed Kevin Hansen into the joker on the opening tour,
then neatly overtook his countryman – the only driver who could still deny him
the championship – a lap later.
Next time
around, leader Timmy Hansen darted into the joker, and what ensued were some of
the most exciting few corners in recent rallycross memory as the 2019 world
champion, Grönholm and Kristoffersson went three-abreast for honours – bringing
back memories of a similarly frenetic Turkish tussle in 2015. After despatching
Grönholm, the Volkswagen driver fought his way grittily past Hansen on the penultimate
lap – and from there on in, the result was never in doubt.
Kristoffersson’s success replicated that of Formula
1 hero Lewis Hamilton, who also clinched his seventh FIA world championship
crown at Istanbul Park Circuit in 2020.
“What a race to win the championship – simply
unbelievable!” the 35-year-old reflected. “It was so much fun. Big thanks to all
of our partners, designers, mechanics, engineers and my team-mate. Everybody
has done a fantastic job and we’ve had a flawless year.
“We have so many good people in this team and
we came into the season well-prepared with a reliable car that has been very
easy to drive. Seven world championship titles – it’s going to take some time
for this to sink in. Just wow!”
With mission accomplished, Kristoffersson played
the team game at the semi-final stage by backing up the chasing pack to enable
Veiby to win, thereby propelling the Norwegian – who had languished at the very
bottom of the Ranking following the heats – onto the front row of the grid for
the final.
Having struggled with his starts all day,
just when he needed it most, Veiby produced a textbook getaway in his sustainably-fuelled,
internal combustion-engined VW Polo KMS 601 RX to out-drag pole-sitter Kevin Hansen
away from the line. With all of the action thereafter happening in his rear-view
mirrors, the 28-year-old didn’t put so much as a wheel out-of-place, as his 13th
podium finish in World RX marked his breakthrough triumph. Lucky for some.
“The day didn’t begin too well when Kevin
[Hansen] and I fought a bit too much in the heats, but I got some help from
Johan [Kristoffersson] in the semi-final and nailed the launch in the final,”
Veiby reflected. “I told myself before that race, ‘come on, it’s time now – you
have to win this one!’
“Our pace was really good and the KMS boys kept
me calm over the radio, and I want to thank everybody in the team for working
flat-out for so long – we’ve been hunting this result for three years and came
close last time out in Portugal. It feels amazing to finally get it!”
Behind Veiby, CE Dealer Team’s Grönholm snatched
the runner-up spoils – for the third time in 2024 – with Kevin Hansen rounding
out the rostrum to consolidate second spot in the title table. He took the chequered
flag behind Kristoffersson, but the newly-crowned champion was subsequently
relegated to sixth for failing to joker following a miscommunication – a rare
error by KMS in an otherwise almost blemish-free campaign.
The season will conclude with another full
day of action in Istanbul tomorrow (10 November). All of the non-stop thrills
will be broadcast live on the pioneering Rally.TV platform.
For more information, including the timetable
and entry list, click here.
FINAL
RESULT
1. Ole
Christian VEIBY (NOR) KMS - Horse Powertrain (ICE) 5
laps
2. Niclas GRÖNHOLM (FIN) CE Dealer Team (EV) +
6.017s
3. Kevin HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World RX Team (EV) +7.654s
4. Timmy
HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World RX Team (EV) + 10.991s
5. Patrick O’DONOVAN (IRL) Team RX Racing (ICE) +
11.811s
6. Johan KRISTOFFERSSON (SWE) KMS - Horse Powertrain (ICE) +
6.768s*
* Classified in last
position and -1 championship points penalty for not taking joker lap
Full results can be found here.
Japan
Poland
Turkey