Simon Olofsson scored the first Supercar Lites win of 2020 with a perfect score in RallyX Nordic’s opening Magic Weekend round, having topped qualifying and his semi-final on his way to the final.
STS RX returnee Olofsson failed to make a single final in the World Rallycross Championship-supporting RX2 Series last year – which uses identical Lites cars – but was one of the pacesetters from the start at Höljes.
He beat the field to the first turn from pole position in the final and was unchallenged thereafter, aided by the lap one joker strategy deployed by YellowSquad’s Henrik Krogstad being compromised by Jimmie Walfridson.
Krogstad committed to taking the joker early and it initially paid off, taking third off team-mate Dan Skocdopole on lap two on strategy and then moving up to second place when Linus Östlund jokered around the halfway mark, having been right on Olofsson’s tail.
But Krogstad’s push to beat Olofsson was stumped by Walfridson, who stayed out until the last lap and dropped to fourth, over three seconds behind Olofsson, by the finish. In the end Krogstad fell only half a second short of catching Olofsson.
Östlund completed the podium places, initially ahead of Skocdopole in fourth. Supercar Lites rookie Skocdopole was then given a three-second penalty for a track limits infringement and dropped to last, promoting Walfridson and Nils Andersson.
Notably absent from the final was Jesse Kallio, who had won the first two qualifiers before a gear lever failure cost him a hat-trick of qualifying wins.
Technical gremlins struck Kallio again in the second semi-final while leading comfortably, slowing with two laps to go and missing the cut.
Marcus Höglund briefly inherited the lead from Kallio but he too hit trouble two corners later, his car grinding to a halt as he started the final lap. That gifted YellowSquad a one-two finish, with Skocdopole ahead of Krogstad.
Östlund is second in the RX Nordic Lites points standings after round one, seven behind Olofsson’s perfect score. Walfridson is third on 19 points, just ahead of Kallio and Skocdopole on 18 apiece.
Photo: RallyX Nordic
Oksar Andersson took a stunning victory in the CrossCar category despite barely making the cut for the semi-finals, having to climb from the back row of the grid to second in his semi to even make the final.
Top qualifier Julle Ljungdahl had a terrible start from pole and didn’t last much longer, the engine in the back of his Speedcar expiring at the back end of the circuit.
Despite his dead motor spewing steam only local yellow flags were deployed, to the apparent surprise of early race leader Patrik Hallberg.
He came to a complete stop on the second lap as the field approached Ljungdahl’s stranded buggy, with JC Raceteknik’s Isak Reiersen driving past him. Though Reiersen let Hallberg back through at the next corner, stewards still elected to exclude Reiersen for overtaking under yellows post-race.
That unexpected interruption appeared to throw off Hallberg, and at the end of the lap he oversteered off into the gravel trap at the final hairpin, giving the lead to Reiersen.
Andersson was able to capitalise on the madness as the only driver to joker before the lap two traffic jam, getting clear air when Reiersen jokered soon after Hallberg spun off.
He then came out ahead of Reiersen after his last-lap joker, holding on to the finish as an over-enthusiastic Reiersen made a near-identical mistake to Hallberg earlier, dropping to third on the road behind Isac Egonsson.
Max Rundberg was promoted to the final podium spot, ahead of a recovering Hallberg.
Alex Gustafsson scored victory in the XC Junior final despite running wide into the gravel on the final corner of the last lap, such was his pace advantage.
JC Raceteknik Juniorteam driver Gustafsson had a bad start to the RallyX Nordic season opener when he collided with Frida Enholm at the exit of the joker on the first lap of his Q1 heat.
His path to the final was a dramatic one: starting on the back row, he capitalised on a collision between pace-setters Raoul Dahlqvist and Rasmus Persson to take victory in his semi.
Erik Andersson then won the race to turn one in the final, but a clinical move by Gustafsson down the inside at the velodrome set up his run to victory.
