Rytkönen arrived at Istanbul Park Circuit
with just seven prior appearances under his belt at the sport’s highest level –
the most recent of which dated back more than three years. Behind the wheel of
his sustainably-fuelled, internal combustion-engined Hyundai i20, he then
endured a difficult opening day – missing out on a spot in the final following
a fierce fight with PGRX team-mate Steven Bossard – but the potential was clear
to see.
The Finnish ‘wildcard’ reproduced that
stellar speed in Sunday morning’s warm-up – as the only driver to threaten the
pace-setting KMS - HORSE Powertrain cars – and again in heat one, in which he
scampered to a runaway win. His heat two bid came unstuck when he found himself
forced into the barriers on the exit of the first corner, but a dominant
victory in a very wet semi-final earned him a front row grid berth for the
all-important final.
When pole-sitter Ole Christian Veiby subsequently
stalled at the start, Rytkönen bolted into the lead, and after fending off an
early challenge from Kristoffersson – who barely 24 hours earlier had clinched
an unprecedented seventh career crown – the Suonenjoki native eased away to
take the chequered flag more than three seconds to the good.
“I’m speechless, and really surprised,”
reflected the 33-year-old, who had similarly impressed by reaching the rostrum
on his world championship debut on home soil at Kouvola in 2020. “Big thanks to
the team for putting their faith in me. Yesterday was a difficult day for us,
but today went much better and to beat two world champions in the final is a
really special feeling. It’s amazing!”
The result not only made it two new World RX
winners in as many days – following Veiby’s breakthrough triumph on Saturday –
it also marked the first time since 2021 that Kristoffersson concluded a
weekend without having stood on the top step of the podium.
On this occasion, the Swede – the most
successful driver in the championship’s ten-year history – was obliged to
settle for second place, with fellow world champion Timmy Hansen rounding out
the rostrum in third in his electric Peugeot 208 RX1e, after brother and Hansen
World RX Team stablemate Kevin Hansen eased off the gas to let him past on the
run to the line.
The younger of the Swedish siblings
nonetheless did enough to cement the runner-up position in the title table for
the second consecutive campaign, with Veiby winding up third in the standings after
proving unable to recover from his start-line drama. A further loss of time
following contact with the tyre barriers left the Norwegian a frustrated sixth
in the final, half-a-second behind CE Dealer Team by Volvo Construction
Equipment’s Niclas Grönholm.
Despite falling short in its quest to secure a
one-two finish in the Drivers’ classification, KMS nonetheless had plenty of
reason to celebrate, as the Swedish squad completed the defence of its Teams’ world
championship crown.
The 2025 World RX season will begin with the
series’ inaugural ice-racing event at Trois-Rivières in Canada on 23-25
January.
FINAL
RESULT
1. Juha
RYTKÖNEN (FIN) PGRX (ICE) 5 laps
2. Johan
KRISTOFFERSSON (SWE) KMS - Horse Powertrain (ICE) +
3.026s
3. Timmy
HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World RX Team (EV) + 12.428s
4. Kevin HANSEN (SWE) Hansen World RX Team (EV) +14.465s
5. Niclas
GRÖNHOLM (FIN) CE Dealer Team (EV) + 18.783s
6. Ole Christian VEIBY (NOR) KMS - Horse Powertrain (ICE) +
19.370s
Full
results can be found here.
Japan
Poland
Turkey