Johan Kristoffersson capitalized on the wet conditions to win round two of the RallyX Nordic Supercar season at Höljes.
While the two-time World Rallycross Champion had been a frontrunner all weekend, it was once the heavens opened on Sunday morning that the Swede really came to the fore.
After dominating semi-final three, running 6.5 seconds quicker than semi-final one winner Oliver Solberg and 12s quicker than semi-final two winner Robin Larsson, Kristoffersson made a strong start in the final to lead into the first corner.
From there he was completely untroubled. Solberg made a good start from the second row of the grid to tuck in behind Kristoffersson, but his choice to take the joker on lap two in a bid to overhaul the race leader failed to pay off.
JC Raceteknik’s Robin Larsson jokered on lap one to negate a challenge from Supercar rookie Fraser McConnell, and passed Solberg once he took the longer route. From there he continued to battle with McConnell, but the Jamaican had yet to joker himself.
The battle between the three allowed McConnell’s Olsbergs MSE team mate Oliver Eriksson to catch up, but Larsson had managed to build a gap by lap four of five.
While Larsson was matching Kristoffersson on lap time by this point, Kristoffersson’s untroubled start meant that he was able to take the joker on the final lap with ease and win by over 4.6s from Larsson.
Solberg held on for third after McConnell broke away to joker on the last lap. Eriksson took fourth ahead of Thomas Brytesson who stalled on the start line and as a result wasn’t a factor in the race.
The late joker, allied with a slow final lap and a penalty for hitting a track marker, left McConnell down in sixth.
The biggest upset of the event though came before the final after top qualifier Niclas Grönholm fell at the semi-final stage.
The GRX Hyundai driver stalled on the grid in semi-final one, and despite an impressive charge he could only finish fourth after being stuck behind Anders Michalak for the second half of the race. Grönholm was ultimately classified seventh overall for the round, aided by his strong qualifying performance yesterday.
