Kristoffersson and Grönholm shine in Finland

Sur la piste finlandaise de Kouvola, Johan Kristoffersson (Kristoffersson Motorsport – Volkswagen Polo RX) et Niclas Grönholm (GRX – Hyundai i20 RX) ont dominé le week-end comptant pour le Championnat du Monde de Rallycross.

First it was the former king of the discipline who hit very hard on Saturday by securing first place in qualifying, then winning his semi-final then the final ahead of Juha Rytkonen (GRX) and world champion Timmy Hansen ( Team Hansen – Peugeot 208 RX), who took his first podium after a tricky start in Sweden the previous week.

This Sunday, Kristoffersson seemed to start at the same tempo by dominating the qualifying phases, but it was ultimately Niclas Grönholm, 4th in Saturday's final, who came to take control of him in the last confrontation at the first corner.

The former world champion will never be able to come back on the Finn, who offers himself a victory at home and relaunches himself with a view to the title. The son of Marcus Grönholm ultimately beats Mattias Ekström (Team JC – Audi S1) and Timur Timerzyanov (GRX), who came to “jump” Johan Kristoffersson on the line for the last step of the podium.

In the general classification, however, the latter remains in the lead with a 17-point margin over Ekström.

Discover the full report of the Kouvola World RX event, in issue 2276 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.