Kristoffersson Wins Final Round In Germany

Johan Kristoffersson rounded off the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship in fine fashion. He won the final round of the inaugural all-electric season at the World RX of Germany at the legendary Nürburgring circuit to make it an astonishing 8 wins out of 10 events.

Despite some fantastic and thrilling racing all year long, the result of the season nor the final round never looked in any serious doubt. Kristoffersson has clearly been super fast all year, winning all 10 SuperPoles of 2022, including beating championship runner up Timmy Hansen by 0.8 seconds over a single lap in Germany.

The biggest drama of day 1 took place in the very first race. Heat 1 race 1 saw the much anticipated debut of the Lancia Delta Evo-e RX at the hands of Guerlain Chicherit. After showing competitive pace (and, incidentally, a stunning car aesthetically), the Frenchman’s day was over almost as soon as it started, after a tussle with Kevin Hansen put his Lancia in the wall. Chicherit will be encouraged by the pace shown, and his appearance in the semi-final on day 2, after a herculean effort to put the car back together, is a great springboard from which he can launch his 2023 full-season campaign.

An unlucky Guerlain Chicherit in the wall after a scrap with Kevin Hansen. Credit: @World / Red Bull Content Pool

Elsewhere on day 1, Kristoffersson was challenged by his KMS teammate, Ole Christian Veiby, who won his last two heat races on the track but lost out in the latter due to a penalty awarded for corner cutting. But it was Klara Andersson who had the biggest smile, winning her first ever heat race at World RX level in heat 3 after a stunning move round the rest of the field in turns 1 and 2. The grin on her face after crossing the line tells just how hard she and the whole CE Dealer Team have been working all year.

She started day 2 by repeating the move in the first progression race, and then putting in an incredible defence against 5-time champion Kristoffersson. But, in another display of raw pace, Kristoffersson threw his Volkswagen Polo RX1e around the circuit, having completed his joker lap, and managed to squeeze ahead of Andersson once she too had completed her joker.

The semi-finals saw the return of Chicherit in his white Lancia. After a superb rallycross start, featuring plenty of elbows out action, Chicherit was demonstrating superb pace when unfortunately he hit a curb too hard, damaging his suspension and prematurely ending his race. Chicherit remained optimistic, however, and teased rallycross fans with this analysis: “Now we’re going to take advantage of the winter break to analyse all the data gathered this weekend and add all the necessary modifications. Next year we’ll be back with two cars, I hope!” The sight of two competitive Lancias battling at the top level of rallycross is mouthwatering.

Kristoffersson on a mission in Germany. Credit: @World / Red Bull Content Pool

The final race of the year was to prove controversial. CE Dealer Team opted to sub out Andersson to allow Niclas Grönholm to race and hopefully secure the third position spot in the championship standings. Despite a daring move by Grönholm at the start of the final, the Finn finding himself in second place on lap 1, there was no stopping Kristoffersson. The Swede was on a charge in his all-electric Polo, setting fastest laps and comfortably winning the battle as Grönholm tried to hunt him down. Unfortunately for the CE Dealer Team driver, Hansen was quietly putting in solid laps behind him and he snuck in front of Grönholm, claiming the second place prize and with it snatching third in the championship away from Grönholm by just 1 point.

Speaking after the race, Kristoffersson said “I had a very good weekend. For myself, you cannot do much more when you’re in the car than just drive as fast as you can. Big achievement from the team; they’ve delivered a perfect car for me all year.” When asked about how he explains his dominance this year, he deferred success to the team: “It starts really with the guys who build the cars…from there on, that gives me confidence, and when you have confidence and take the right decisions, then that’s when you start making good results. It’s really down to that from the start and then, of course, it’s also very very hard work as drivers and engineers!”

It has been a spectacular first season for the all-electric RX1e class. For all the changes, one thing has remained constant, and that is the unrelenting dominance of Johan Kristoffersson, the most successful world rallycross driver of all time, and a thoroughly deserving 2022 FIA World Rallycross Champion.

1	1		Johan KRISTOFFERSSON	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo RX1e	182
2	21		Timmy HANSEN	Hansen World RX Team	Peugeot 208 RX1e	135
3	71		Kevin HANSEN	Hansen World RX Team	Peugeot 208 RX1e	128
4	68		Niclas GRÖNHOLM	Construction Equipment Dealer Team	PWR RX1e	127
5	52		Ole Christian VEIBY	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo RX1e	123
6	17		Gustav BERGSTRÖM	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo RX1e	107
7	12		Klara ANDERSSON	Construction Equipment Dealer Team	PWR RX1e	102
8	77		Rene MÜNNICH	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	SEAT Ibiza RX1e	78

The final results of the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship