Johan Kristoffersson remains unbeaten in the new RX1e top class of the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship. The four-time world champion used the Ferratum World RX Of Riga-Latvia as the venue to take a historic 30th career victory just 0.285 seconds ahead of a charging Kevin Hansen, who repeated his second place finish from yesterday despite being bottom of the standings at one stage and recovering from a spin in his semi-final, and fellow Kristoffersson Motorsport driver Ole Christian Veiby in third.
Typically understated, Kristoffersson said “It was tricky, it was up and down, but so happy with the guys. They’ve been working so hard and the cars are really flying on track. It was a tough fight with Kevin but…I just had enough laps to make that joker different option compared to Kevin. I’d also like to thank all the spectators here in Riga. It’s a track that I love, and I’m looking forward to coming back next year.”
The final race of the weekend was a very technical affair. Both Hansen World RX Team cars made brilliant starts, demonstrating the teamwork that the brothers Kevin and Timmy Hansen have become known for. Kristoffersson almost took Timmy out in the first corner, but backed off the throttle to avoid a total spin for both of them. In a rare potential tactical error, Timmy dived into his joker on the first lap, freeing up Kristoffersson to charge down race leader Kevin Hansen, rather than being held up behind the elder of the two siblings. However, it seemed like this tactic was going to play off. Kristoffersson didn’t really seem to have an answer for the pace of the Hansen Peugeot 208 RX1e cars. Kevin jokered on the penultimate lap, and that gave Kristoffersson the clear air he needed. He put in a storming charge on the final lap and managed to exit the joker merge a mere whisker ahead of his compatriot, Kevin Hansen.
Timmy Hansen making a splash earlier in the day. Credit: Mihai Stetcu / Red Bull Content Pool
It was a day of much learning and development for each of the teams, as the new all-electric cars of the RX1e class had to contend with wet conditions for the first time. Unsurprisingly, Kristoffersson seemed to adapt quickly, winning his heat race over five seconds ahead of his teammate, Veiby. Timmy Hansen led his brother home in their first heat of the day, but was a full seven seconds slower than Kristoffersson had been in the same conditions.
Heat two got underway in dramatic fashion. Kevin Hansen started on the inside of the track, which is exactly where Veiby would have liked to have been. Veiby muscled his Volkswagen Polo RX1e alongside Hansen, closing the door on him to such an extent that the front-left corner of the car clouted the wall, meaning the young Swede’s race was over before it had even begun. Timmy Hansen found some pace for his second heat race, winning the race and securing second spot in the heat tables before heading into the final rounds.
Semi-final one saw a great battle between Klara Andersson and Gustav Bergström. The two youngest drivers in the series showed their potential as they battled through joker merges, Andersson showing great awareness to slow her car just a little, rather than trying to send it round the outside of the final corner, and make a charge up the inside of Bergström as they headed to the first corner. Bergström kept his cool, however, and did just enough to stay in front, but the two battled nose to tail all the way to the flag.
L-R: Kevin Hansen, Johan Kristoffersson, Ole Christian Veiby. Credit: @World / Red Bull Content Pool
Controversy reared its head in semi-final two. After a fairly standard start to the race, Veiby and Kevin Hansen were vying for position going into the first hairpin of the Biķernieki circuit, when a minor nudge from Veiby caused Hansen to drift a little sideways on the slippery surface. Hansen span the wheels to compensate, over-rotated and his Peugeot pirouetted around and out of the final. However, the stewards decided to penalise this minor nudge by giving Veiby a whopping 10 second penalty, promoting Hansen to second, eliminated Bergström from a deserved place in the final, and giving Kevin the change to vie for victory.
And so an exciting weekend of WorldRX action draws to a close. There has been some obvious development in all of the teams, and the action is as close and dramatic as ever. The points are really hotting up as well, with two different pairs of drivers tied on points, including the Hansen brothers. Ultimately, however, there is only one man at the top of the championship. Johan Kristoffersson has won every event in the new all-electric era of WorldRX. It would be a brave gambler who bet against him when the circus comes to Portugal in two weeks time.
| POS. | NUM. | NAT. | DRIVER | TEAM | | | | POINTS | | | | | |
| 1 | 1 | Johan KRISTOFFERSSON | Kristoffersson Motorsport | | | | 60 | | | | | | |
| 2 | 71 | Kevin HANSEN | Hansen World RX Team | | | | 41 | | | | | | |
| 3 | 21 | Timmy HANSEN | Hansen World RX Team | | | | 41 | | | | | | |
| 4 | 42 | Ole Christian VEIBY | Kristoffersson Motorsport | | | | 38 | | | | | | |
| 5 | 68 | Niclas GRÖNHOLM | Construction Equipment Dealer Team | | | | 31 | | | | | | |
| 6 | 17 | Gustav BERGSTRÖM | Kristoffersson Motorsport | | | | 31 | | | | | | |
| 7 | 12 | Klara ANDERSSON | Construction Equipment Dealer Team | | | | 29 | | | | | | |
| 8 | 77 | Rene MÜNNICH | ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport | | | | 26 |