VW’s Kristoffersson Sets RX Record with 4th Straight Win

The FIA World Rallycross Championship’s biggest race of the season, as far as attendance goes at least, was the site of another record from VW hotshoe, Johan Kristoffersson.

The young Swede has had a charmed season, leading the championship from his team-mate Petter Solberg, but this weekend he accomplished something that has never been done before, winning his fourth straight rallycross.

The win was a relatively simple one thanks to rain that seemed to confound the rest of the pack, but the result was anything but simple going into the weekend’s finale.

All weekend the weather had been dry and Peugeot looked to have closed the performance gap, with Timmy Hansen hot on Kristoffersson’s tail all weekend-long. And, indeed, the race started the same way.

Although Kristoffersson had a great start, a less than stellar first corner meant that Hansen could catch up and put the pressure on the championship-leading Swede. He showed his composure, though, and slowly built his lead back up until Hansen fell farther and farther back.

The reason for the scale of Kristoffersson’s lead soon became evident, as Hansen’s Peugeot began backfiring and slowed to a crawl, eventually pulling out of the race completely. With Hansen gone and Loeb now in second, Kristoffersson just has cruise home, though he didn’t seem to be doing much cruising. The lead continued to build until he finished his record-setting race nearly four seconds (a big lead in rallycross) clear of WRC’s winningest driver.

“I have never been so comfortable in a car in rainy conditions before,” said Kristoffersson. “While it was dry yesterday, Sébastien Loeb put us under quite a bit of pressure but the team did a great job today and put out a superb car.”

Kristoffersson extends his lead in the championship and his 46 points clear of second-place Petter Solberg, his teammate. Mattias Ekstrom is another 15 points behind Solberg and Loeb is another 11 points back.

With only three races left this season, the championship is now Kristoffersson’s to lose. He will look to stay on top in just over a week’s time, as the championship is back in action in Latvia, starting on September 15.

The post VW’s Kristoffersson Sets RX Record with 4th Straight Win appeared first on VWVortex.

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