Mattias Ekstrom wins a dramatic final to take round two of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Sweden.
In the first of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy at World double headers Ekstrom took the win, the first for KYB Team JC.
Round one winner, Johan Kristoffersson was the top qualifier for the final and started the final on pole position. Squeezed heading to turn one by Robin Larsson in the second KYB Team JC, Kristoffersson was just able to hold onto the lead. Despite going into the gravel at turn one Larsson held onto second place.
Ekstrom and Kevin Hansen took the joker lap at the start and were onto the back of those who took the standard lap at the start of lap two, with Ekstrom passing Andreas Bakkerud at turn one. All the rest of the field bar Kristoffersson, Larsson, Timo Scheider and Bakkerud, took to their joker lap on lap two allowing Ekstrom to move up into second place.
Ekstrom chased down Kristoffersson closing down the gap with the two trading fastest lap times. On the final lap Kristoffersson took his joker coming out just behind the Ekstrom. All over the back of the Audi it was a race to the line with Ekstrom taking the win by just one tenth of a second.
A five second time penalty for track limits dropped Kristoffersson to third in the official result.
Hansen was promoted to second, who had been running fourth in the race behind Larsson. A puncture for Larsson with smoke pouring from the rear of the Audi allowed Hansen to pass into third position on the penultimate lap.
ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport’s Scheider also able to pass Larsson to take fourth place. Whilst the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel’s Bakkerud had issues, crawling to the finish in sixth place.
A hectic race for the first semi-finals saw Timur Timerzyanov and Anton Marklund miss out on the final. Timmy Hansen was disqualified from the race for incidents with both Bakkerud and Timerzyanov.
Missing out on the final from the second of the semi-finals was Krisztian Szabo, Niclas Gronholm and Rene Munnich.
After the first weekend Kristoffersson leads the driver’s championship by two points from Ekstrom. KYB Team JC leads the team championship with 90 points.
World Rallycross returns next weekend with rounds three and four at the World RX of Finland.
Feature image credit: FIAWorldRallycross.com
