Jesse Kallio leads the Supercar Lites class after the first two qualifying sessions of the second RallyX Nordic Magic Weekend round at Höljes, topping the times in both his runs on Saturday.
RX2 Series frontrunner Kallio was the fastest driver on Thursday, the first round of a double-header this week, but was thwarted by a technical failure in his semi-final.
Kallio turned in two straightforward heat wins on Saturday to take a maximum score of 100 intermediate points overnight, 14 points ahead of a tight battle for the remaining top five places.
His Olsbergs MSE team-mate Linus Östlund is second overnight but was fortunate to finish Q2 unharmed, clipping the right-rear of Kallio’s car as he sped past to take his joker on the opening lap.
That race had a particularly messy start, as the third Olsbergs car of Niklas Aneklev found himself pincered on the run to the first turn by STS RX’s Simon Olofsson and Mats Oskarsson, pitching him into a spin and dropping him from fourth to ninth in the overnight standings.
YellowSquad’s Henrik Krogstad won his Q2 heat and shot up the intermediate points standings to third, tied with round one winner Olofsson.
Martin Enlund, another of the Olsbergs drivers, completes the top five.
Krogstad’s YellowSquad team-mate Dan Skocdopole dropped out of the semi-final positions after a disastrous Q2, where a jumped start was followed by an electrical problem that left him well off the pace.
Photo: LifeLive Nordic / Sanna Krantz
Thierry Neuville’s hopes of making the final in CrossCar took a hit when an engine failure forced him to retire from his Q1 heat.
Further compounding his woes, the LifeLive Nordic team was forced to change the engine on his TN5 machine for a less-powerful 600cc unit. While he had a clean run with only two cars in his heat, that lack of power hurt his Q2 time and is a long way from a semi-final spot in Q3 as he’s down in 33rd.
Neuville’s team-mate, reigning World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen, had two trouble-free runs but is outside the semi-final transfer spots in 22nd.
Patrik Hallberg once again dominated the opening qualifying sessions, repeating his Thursday performance by winning Q1 and Q2. Isac Egonsson, Max Rundberg, Julle Ljungdahl and Jimmie Österberg complete the top five in XC qualifying overnight.
Oskar Andersson, who won the first CrossCar round on Thursday, faces a near-impossible task to make the semi-finals after his Casmat buggy caught fire in Q1, and was unable to make it out for his Q2 heat.
XC Junior round one winner Alex Gustafsson continued his dominant form for JC Raceteknik, topping both Q1 and Q2.
CarControl’s Erik Andersson and privateer Lukas Andersson are tied for second in the Junior qualifying standings.
