VW RX Sweden Comes out of Montalegre RX Ranked Second

It was a frustrating, if promising round one of the World Rallycross Championship for Volkswagen’s Johan Kristoffersson. Volkswagen RX Sweden’s top driver lost available points after crashing out of the weekend’s final race at Portugal’s Montalegre RX, but his strong performance over the course of the weekend leaves him in a tie for second place in the driver’s championship.

The weekend started wildly, with pouring rain causing havoc in the qualifying races. Despite racing through deep mud, Kristoffersson was quick in qualifying, topping the qualifying sheet in Heat 1, and earning himself a spot in the first semi-final.

Starting from the front row, he completed his joker lap (a longer lap that all drivers must complete once per race) right off the start. The strategy worked, and Kristoffersson all but cruised into a race win ahead of 9-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb.

Thanks to that, he was on the first row in the final, as well, where he used the same strategy, jokering on the first lap. All was well until Petter Solberg, who would eventually win the race, bumped into him coming out of a corner. Kristoffersson went off track and broke his wheel off getting back onto the tarmac.

The bad news is that he only earned one point in the final. The good news is the most he could have gotten was 8 points, so the weekend was still a qualified success. Thanks to his quick times all weekend, he ends up tied for second place with 21 points. Better yet, thanks to teammate Anton Marklund, Volkswagen RX Sweden is now in second place among teams.

The teams will be back on track at Hockenheim, in Germany on May 6.

You can watch the whole weekend’s action by following this link, and day 2’s highlights below.

The post VW RX Sweden Comes out of Montalegre RX Ranked Second appeared first on VWVortex.

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