PoloDriver

At last! It took a while, but Johan Kristoffersson finally achieved the first FIA World Rallycross Championship podium finish for the newly-formed Volkswagen RX Sweden team at the World RX of Canada. The event at Trois-Rivières in Quebec marked the seventh round of the 2016 series and the mid-way point of the season, and 27 year-old Kristoffersson made it onto the third step of the podium.

‘Really good to be back here’
‘We’ve been so close and finally our hard work has paid off and we are back on the podium – it feels really good to be back here,’ said a jubilant Kristoffersson, who is now just three points off third place in the Drivers’ Championship. ‘Petter Solberg was outstanding in the semi-final and I felt like I couldn’t catch him, but then the rain started and our car works so well in the rain. The first two laps were really good for us and the car worked perfectly,’ he continued.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada: Kristoffersson

Kristoffersson’s team-mate Anton Marklund also made the final in Canada, but just missed out on a top five finish, coming home sixth. His Polo RX suffered a brake failure and he collided with ex-World Rally Champion Petter Solberg’s Citroën DS3 RX. Marklund subsequently hit a wall on the first lap of the Supercar final, and damaged a rear tyre. Both he and Solberg were taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks, with both drivers being declared fine.

Three consecutive podiums
The Canadian round of the World Rallycross Championship has been kind to the 600bhp Polo RX Supercar – the small but powerful Volkswagen has achieved three consecutive podiums at the North American event. Marklund finished second at the famous street circuit in 2014, while the Volkswagen RX Sweden car finished second and third at the 2015 event, with Finland’s Toomas Heikkinen and America’s Tanner Foust.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Canada: Marklund

Before the event, Kristoffersson reported that a few changes to the super-Polo had taken place: ‘We have made a few updates that will no doubt help us. Last season we were strong in Canada at the start of the weekend, this year we want to remain focussed throughout the entire event.’

Volkswagen RX Sweden Team Principal Michael Schneider confirmed the car is a match for its competitors: ‘When I look back on the first half of the season, I’m very happy with the performance of the car and both drivers. We have produced a very competitive car for 2016.’

Timmy Hansen won the World RX of Canada for Team Peugeot Hansen. the Swede took an unexpected victory after he was promoted to the final when Russia’s Timur Timerzyanov was black flagged after an incident in the semi-final. The next round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship is the World RX of France, which takes place in Lohéac from 2-4 September.

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 161
2 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 157
3 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Focus RS: 132
4 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo: 129
5 Sébastien Loeb, Peugeot 208: 121

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 EKS: 256
2 Team Peugeot Hansen: 226
3 Volkswagen RX Sweden: 188
4 Hoonigan Racing Division: 167
5 World RX Team Austria: 126

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / Volkswagen RX Sweden]

Round six of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship saw the second double final of the season for home team Volkswagen RX Sweden, with Polo RX drivers Johan Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund finishing the event in fifth and fourth places respectively.

The 1.21km Holjes Motorstadion circuit played host to the FIA World Rallycross Championship circus from 1-3 July and Marklund set the fastest lap on day one’s wet conditions. The young Swede fought his way through the traffic-filled qualification races and made it into the semi-finals. A third-place finish in the second semi-final saw him join Kristoffersson in the Supercar final.

In the final race, Sebastien Loeb’s Peugeot was put under pressure by Marklund’s Polo on the opening lap and the Swede passed the Frenchman at the start of the second lap. Disappointingly, a technical issue slowed the 600bhp Polo down towards the end of the race, and resulted in a fourth-place finish.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Marklund

‘Fastest lap time’
Marklund was content with his run, though: ‘The pace has been really good, we really showed that we have found a lot of speed, especially from testing. I had the fastest lap time for the whole of Saturday – that really showed what we could do.

‘Holjes is a tough track, it’s easy to damage the car and to get in trouble, so I played it safe to get to the semis. You know at Holjes if you are on the back row of the semis that you have to be quite aggressive, I was into turn one and I made it into the final,’ he continued.

‘I knew I had to do that again in the final. I was third position after turn two and I was faster than Loeb on the first lap and was able to pass him. When I jokered, I came out right in front of Mattias Ekstrom, but then I started to have some troubles with the car. It will be fixed easily and we will be ready for Canada, where I have always been in the final,’ he concluded.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Sweden: Kristoffersson

Top of the pack
Kristoffersson meanwhile finished top of the pack after the first day’s second qualifying session and remained there at the Intermediate Classification after the fourth qualifying heat. He secured 16 championship points as well as a front row start for the first semi-final, from where he made it onto the second row for the final itself.

A great start saw Kristoffersson joker straight away and the driver from Arvika seemed to be heading for a podium place. Sadly, a puncture on the front of his Polo with just two laps remaining put paid to any podium hopes, and dropped the 27 year-old down to fifth.

Like Marklund, Kristoffersson was pleased with the pace of the Volkswagen Polo RX Sweden Polo: ‘We came here with some new updates and we proved all through the event that we have been quick in wet, dry and tricky conditions. I have to say that we really had the pace this weekend again, like we did in the first four events of the season.

‘We’ve found a lot of speed since Norway, which is great. It’s boring that we got the puncture in the final, as I was in a very good position to get a podium. We lost a bit on lap one but we caught it back and on lap four I was right on Andreas Bakkerud’s bumper, but I landed from the jump at turn two and got a puncture. That’s life.’

Kristoffersson currently sits fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, while Volkswagen RX Sweden is third in the manufacturers’ points. The seventh round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship takes place at Trois-Rivieres in Canada on 6-7 August.

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 142
2 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 137
3 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Focus RS: 110
4 Sébastien Loeb, Peugeot 208: 106
5 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo: 106

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 EKS: 224
2 Team Peugeot Hansen: 192
3 Volkswagen RX Sweden: 152
4 Hoonigan Racing Division: 133
5 World RX Team Austria: 109

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / Volkswagen RX Sweden]

It was another challenging weekend for the Volkswagen RX Sweden team at the World RX of Norway, the fifth round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship. The 1.02km-long circuit at Hell played host to 44 600bhp World RX Supercars, with home Ford Focus RS pilot Andreas Bakkerud becoming the first driver ever in FIA World Rallycross Championship history to win all four qualifying sessions plus the semi-final and final.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Norway: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Norway: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Norway: Kristoffersson

The 10-12 June were a difficult two days for the Volkswagen Polo RXs of Johan Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund. Kristoffersson finished seventh (fourth in the first semi-final), while Maryland was a further eight places down the field (seventh in the fourth qualifying heat).

With Kristoffersson currently fourth in the overall drivers’ standings and Volkswagen RX Sweden third in the teams’ points, the Swedish-based rallycross outfit is looking forward to the sixth round of the series and its ‘home’ event, the World RX of Sweden, which takes place from 1-3 July at Höljes Motorstadion.

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 125
2 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 120
3 Sébastien Loeb, Peugeot 208: 83
4 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo: 83
5 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Focus RS: 81

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 EKS: 195
2 Team Peugeot Hansen: 151
3 Volkswagen RX Sweden: 117
4 Hoonigan Racing Division: 100
5 World RX Team Austria: 94

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / Volkswagen RX Sweden]

They may not have been on the podium, but Volkswagen RX Sweden drivers Johan Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund scored yet more valuable points for their Drivers’ Championship hopes at round four of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Great Britain. The 27-29 May event at the iconic Lydden Hill – the ‘home of rallycross’ – saw a total of 24 Supercars entered for the showdown at the 1.17km-long circuit.

Technical issue
After day one, Kristoffersson was in seventh place, with Marklund one place behind. ‘Celebrity’ driver and Top Gear US star Tanner Foust ran another Volkswagen RX Sweden-prepared 600bhp Polo RX and was in 15th place as the curtains came down on the first day’s action. Usually the pilot of a Global Rallycross Championship Volkswagen Beetle, the US driver was to later retire due to a technical issue with his car.

Although both of Volkswagen RX Sweden’s regular drivers qualified for the semi-finals after solid performances in the qualifying rounds, both Kristoffersson and Marklund finished sixth in their respective races. Kristoffersson tweeted: “After a mishap in the semis it was game over too early. Holding P3 in the @FIAWorldRX Drivers Championship! #worldrx”. In the final reckoning, Kristoffersson finished eighth, while Marklund was eleventh overall.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Great Britain: Foust

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Great Britain

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Great Britain: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Great Britain: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Great Britain: Foust

Third in team table
The young Swede collected seven points in the Drivers’ Championship, which leaves him outside the top 10. Kristoffersson gained 12 points from the weekend in Great Britain and is now third in the overall drivers’ points standings, 35 points shy of championship leader and World RX of Great Britain winner Mattias Ekström. Volkswagen RX Sweden is now third in the team world championship table with 102 points.

The fifth round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship – the World RX of Norway – takes place at Hell in Norway from 10-12 June.

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 105
2 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 100
3 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo: 70
4 Sébastien Loeb, Peugeot 208: 63
5 Toomas Heikkinen, Audi S1: 60

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 EKS: 165
2 Team Peugeot Hansen: 109
3 Volkswagen RX Sweden: 102
4 Hoonigan Racing Division: 67
5 World RX Team Austria: 62

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / Volkswagen RX Sweden]

In a similar performance to that at the second round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship, both Volkswagen RX Sweden Polo RXs were among the front-runners at the third round of the series, the World RX of Belgium at Mettet. Both the 600bhp rallycross Polo Supercars of Johan Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund made it to the Supercar final at the 1.1km Circuit Jules Tacheny.

Fastest time
Kristoffersson once again – as at Hockenheim – set the winning pace in the Free Practice sessions on day one, and claimed the fastest time. The Swedish driver started form third on the grid in the Supercar final on day two, but a technical issue with his Polo meant he failed to capitalise on his prominent grid position.

Marklund meanwhile stormed into the lead and the first corner from the third row of the grid in the same race, and was awarded the Monster Energy Supercharge award. With both Volkswagen RX Sweden cars in the Supercar final, the team has closed the gap in the overall teams’ standings with 83 points. Kristoffersson’s sixth overall performance in Mettet leaves him third in the drivers’ championship points table, while Marklund’s fourth puts him 11th in the individual standings.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Belgium: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Belgium: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Belgium

‘Good confidence’
Kristoffersson was pleased with his Polo RX’s speed: ‘I had a pretty good feeling through the whole weekend. I like the track in Belgium and I know the car suits it well. I came here with good confidence, we had the speed to win both of the first two events and I knew we would have the pace here.

‘Me and Anton finished side-by-side in Q1 but after that in every race I started in a worse position. The start at Mettet is so crucial: it’s just so competitive now. I was driving within myself and we used new tyres for the semi-final and things were looking pretty good. It feels like we still have a big headwind but the team is really great and we know we have the speed, so that is very positive.’

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Belgium: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Belgium: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Belgium: Marklund

Marklund was pleased with his best result of the season: ‘The pace has been really good all weekend. The guys worked so hard on the car between the races and our engine guys have done some really good work this weekend. We made a brilliant start from the last row, but after a small mistake at the chicane on the back straight we slipped down the placings. That’s where I lost a podium finish. Fourth is really good but the pace was there for the podium.’

EKS’ Mattias Ekstrom lead the 49-car Supercar field to victory at the World RX of Belgium. The fourth round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Great Britain, takes place at Lydden Hill in Kent from 27-29 May.

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 78
2 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 73
3 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo: 58
4 Toomas Heikkinen, Audi S1: 46
5 Robin Larsson, Audi A1: 38

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 EKS: 124
2 Volkswagen RX Sweden: 83
3 Team Peugeot Hansen: 77
4 Hoonigan Racing Division: 43
5 World RX Team Austria: 39

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com]