Olsbergs MSE’s Jesse Kallio finished as the top qualifier for the semi-finals of the second RallyX Nordic Magic Weekend Supercar Lites round at Höljes.
Heavy rain over the course of the morning ensured race times were down by around 25 seconds compared to Saturday’s dry running, and also meant that those in the early heat races enjoyed far better track conditions.
With the fastest from Saturday running first, Kallio made the most of just a few spots of rain on track in Q3 to win from YellowSquad’s Henrik Krogstad and Martin Enlund, while round one winner Simon Olofsson was fourth.
Mats Oskarsson emerged victorious in the second race of Q3 following a fantastic side-by-side battle between Jimmie Walfridson and Thomas Holmen which ended with Walfridson hitting the barrier on the final lap.
Holmen passed Walfridson at Velodrome and the pair duked it out on the run to the penultimate corner, before Walfridson ran wide and touched the barrier.
Marcus Höglund spun in avoidance of Walfridson, allowing Nils Andersson to claim third on the line.
The final race of Q3 was the wettest and while Gustav Johansson beat Niklas Aneklev and Dan Skocdopole to the win, all three faced an uphill task to make it through to the semis.
Photo: YellowSquad / Sanna Krantz
Krogstad emerged as the fastest driver in Q4 thanks to an astute drive in the first of the races.
The Norwegian left his joker until the final lap and put enough distance between himself and Kallio, who jokered on the first lap, to come out in front.
Kallio was second, just 1.7s in arrears and ahead of Linus Östlund and Olofsson.
Oskarsson again won his heat, in arguably the worst of the conditions, which was enough to place him fifth in the intermediate standings and secure his place in the semi-finals along with Holmen and Höglund.
Krogstad’s YellowSquad team-mate Skocdopole snuck into the top 12 in the final race with second place to Walfridson following a difficult Q3.
The Czech teenager received a three-second penalty for a track limits infringement in his Q3 heat but did enough to climb from 13th to 10th.
Missing out on the semi-finals is Andersson, Martin Jonsson and Nathalie Petersson, who suffered a DNF in the final race of Q4.
In CrossCar, Patrik Hallberg emerged as top qualifier from the heats despite missing out on a clean sweep in Q3 as Julle Ljungdahl put in a superb time to go three tenths quicker than anyone else.
Hallberg was second in Q3 but made the most of more rain towards the end of the session to go into the semi-finals with three out of four session wins.
After an engine failure on Saturday, meaning he had to switch to a less powerful motor, World Rally Championship star Thierry Neuville comfortably won both of his Q3 and Q4 heat races as the weather deteriorated even further.
Neuville’s LifeLive Nordic team-mate Timmy Hansen finished third to the Belgian in their Q3 race before winning the final race of Q4.
With the top 18 progressing to the semi-finals, neither Neuville nor World Rallycross Champion Hansen made it through though. The Swede was classified 20th, with Neuville in 27th.
Carcontrol’s Robin Nord got through in 17th despite suffering a spin in his Q4 heat, while Marcus Agerheim was the last driver into the semis in 18th.
