Kristoffersson and Grönholm star in Höljes

July 6, 2020 0 Comments

Two-time FIA World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson won the ‘All-Star’ Magic Weekend at Höljes in Sweden, while double FIA World Rally champion Marcus Grönholm (pictured wearing a Stilo WRC DES Zero 8860 helmet) scored victory in the Legends’ invitational class – beating Henning Solberg, Stig-Olov Walfridson, Andreas Eriksson and, at the grand old age of 74, Per Eklund.

Kristoffersson had been there or thereabouts throughout Saturday’s two qualifying sessions, albeit never quite on the ultimate pace in his rebuilt 2016 Volkswagen Polo. When the heavens opened on Sunday, that all changed and the Swede – whose last rallycross appearance was almost 20 months ago – stormed to a sensational comeback victory on home soil.

Reigning RallyX Nordic champion Robin Larsson finished runner-up, with former title-holder Oliver Solberg reaching the rostrum on his series return in his Citroën DS3.

Jesse Kallio put his Thursday disappointment firmly behind him with a commanding Supercar Lites class success for Olsbergs MSE, as an inspired Mats Oskarsson sped to second place and local specialist Linus Östlund made it two podiums from as many starts in third. Max Rundberg played an early joker strategy to perfection to prevail in the CrossCar category, while Raoul Dahlqvist lifted the laurels in CrossCar Junior.

Thierry Neuville reached the CrossCar semi finals on Thursday, but he was unable to repeat that as the race meeting progressed – despite some very impressive driving in the wet.

“It’s very nice to be back,” said Kristoffersson.

“When the sniff of a win was there, I felt I could be really threatening on pure pace. It was great to get back into a super-competitive mode, analysing everything and trying different lines in the rain when I had a gap behind me.

“My start in the final was very good – all three wet starts were very good, in fact. The Polo is easy to launch in the wet, controlling it with the clutch and throttle. I made sure to spray the cars behind me so they couldn’t see anything – that was planned! From there on, I tried to push a little harder on the first lap while making no mistakes, and then just focussed on banging the laps in with a safe margin.

“I haven’t driven this car much before, so it was nice to see how it handles and it worked very well, with no problems whatsoever. I’m very happy.”