Kristoffersson has firm grip on RallyX Nordic title.

PHOTO CREDIT: Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS

Johan Kristoffersson has a firm grip on the RallyX Nordic title having picked up a win and a second place in Ouluzone, Finland this weekend. 

The three-time World RX champion emerged victorious on Saturday after a thrilling battle with Niclas Grönholm, which ended with the Finn picking up a puncture. 

On Sunday, Grönholm got his revenge, with a perfect launch in the final, leaving Johan to try alternative lines to carry more speed, but that was not enough to beat the Niclas, as he led the way to the checkered flag. 

"Good points. I did what I could this weekend. I can't go any faster," Kristoffersson said."I would have needed pole position to be able to beat Niclas."

With one round remaining, at the Westombanan in Arvika in August, Kristoffersson leads the championship by 27 points over Niclas Grönholm who confirmed on Sunday, that he is not likely to return for the final, whilst Sondre Evjen is a further 29 points behind the top 2. 

"[It will be] fun to hopefully decide the title on a home track," he concludes. 

Johan's father and team manager of Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS admits that despite being in control of the championship "it is not over until it is over."

Kristoffersson extends lead despite challenging Höljes double-header.

PHOTO CREDIT: Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS/QNIGAN

Johan Kristoffersson extended his RallyX Nordic championship advantage over Fraser McConnell this weekend, after a challenging weekend in Höljes.

The 32-year-old failed to make the final on Thursday (round 3) after a puncture, which saw him eliminated in the semi-finals. 

Returning a few days later, he was on a mission... and despite challenging weather conditions, it did not quite turn out the way he had hoped for. 

He struggled with starts and clinched third place overall on Saturday afternoon (in Q1 and Q2). 

"The starts weren't good enough - at all - and that's the most important detail in rallycross," Kristoffersson said.

The dawn of a new day ushered in new opportunities, and yet more changeable weather conditions. The third and fourth qualifying rounds ended in the same vein. Johan once again had problems with the starts, but he offered effective joker actions and a great overtaking display. After the qualifiers, Kristoffersson had still managed to secure a place at the front row for the second semi-final. 

"We had no really big problems, but far too many for us to be able to challenge the World RX cars," he explained.

Even in the semi-finals, Krisztian Szabo had the best start and immediately shut the door on Johan, but in a masterful strategy, the three-time world champion wisely used his tactic and skill to fight back and win to seal a place alongside Grönholm in the final.

"I drove to my absolute extreme, and had to turn out everything I could," he adds.

Yet again, Johan had a bad start in the final, but with Fraser McConnell with an inside line into turn two, he immediately took the joker lap and the push began. 

From there, his only target was "to win". He pulled off a masterful overtake around the inside of Andreas Bakkerud on entry to the velodrome, and from there pushed to close the gap. 

"Yes, it was different. I had to "take it on a volleyball" you could say, but it worked out," he said.

Once he passed the Norwegian, the Swede had a couple of laps to catch up with Grönholm, but it was not quite enough. Although he finished 0.400s behind the race winner, it was a solid second-place finish.

Former team-mate and championship rival Sondre Evjen missed the final, which means the Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS driver now has a 13-point lead in the championship, over Fraser McConnell. 

Despite the challenge, team boss Tommy Kristoffersson is quite pleased. 

"We have to take the positives from this weekend," he said. "We knew it would tough against the World Championship cars, but we should not hide under the chair that we have struggled with some technical challenges."

RallyX Nordic will head to northern Finland in just three weeks, a track that not too many drivers have raced on before. So, it will be new for many, but the action will still be pretty epic! 

Kristoffersson returns for RallyX Nordic season opener.

PHOTO CREDIT: Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS

Three-time World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson will return for the RallyX Nordic season opener in Denmark next month. 

Fresh from victory in the inaugural Extreme E race in the Saudi Arabian desert, Johan Kristoffersson has confirmed his participation in the 2021 RallyX Nordic season opener in Nysum, Denmark on 1-2 May. 

"It's nice to get going and to visit a track I have never been to before," Kristoffersson said.

Despite not being able to race the Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R supercar that he has used in the World RX championship, the Swede is quite confident of the improvements that have made to the KMS-built and updated Polo GTI RX car last year. 

"The car has a high capacity after last year's updates," he said. 

The team has confirmed that Johan will take the wheel of the Polo GTI RX in a test session next week at the Westombanan track. 

As we all know from his successful motorsport career, the 32-year-old does not aim for anything higher than victories. 

"[The aim is to] take the starts and stay away from problems as much as possible", he says. "The starting field looks to be good, so nothing is given."

At the moment, Johan is only registered to compete in the Danish double-header in Nysum next month, but it's rather clear that he wants to be able to complete the entire Nordic season.

"I hope so. We have that as a goal in any case," Kristoffersson said.

Will Johan return to the World Rallycross Championship in 2021? It does not seem likely at this point in time, as the team waits for the transition to electric power in 2022. But instead of waiting around, KMS aims to compete in the full RallyX Nordic season which consists of four race weekends and a total of seven races. 

"It's good to keep going. We are waiting for electric in rallycross, so this will be good driving training for that, and also for upcoming competitions in Extreme E," he concludes.

"I couldn't be happier" as Kristoffersson takes a step closer to third World RX title.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX 

Johan Kristoffersson took firm control of the World RX Drivers' Championship with a win at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona on Sunday.

The two-time champion has had a weekend of ups and downs, but through bumper bashing adversity, he stood up and fought back. Despite being the top qualifier and winning his semi-final. The Swede did not have it easy with the resurgence of the Team Hansen and a strong Andreas Bakkerud. 

He was involved in hard battles all Saturday, including a great fight in the final where Timmy Hansen challenged Johan through the first corner. Hansen went on to win ahead of the Swede who finished second. 

The contact with Hansen at the first corner saw Johan shed some bodywork including his front bumper. 

"That made the car a bit understeery, which is evident on this track. But I'm happy with 27 points. You don't lose the title on a performance like that," Kristoffersson said.

The draw for round eight on Sunday indicated an even tougher mission for the double world champion, and so it was. From difficult starting positions, he was only fifth overall after the three qualifying rounds, meaning he would start on the second row for the semi-finals. 

"No matter what we did, we ended up behind someone. It was frustrating," said Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS boss Tommy Kristoffersson.

However, Johan turned his fortune around. With a very good launch in the semi-finals, he slotted in behind Mattias Ekström. He jokered on the third lap and managed to pass Ekström for a win.

"That joker strategy was absolutely perfect," Johan said.

Starting on the outside of Andreas Bakkerud on the front row of the final. He had another great launch and was a full car length clear before braking for turn one. However, there was contact in the first corner, which ended Bakkerud's race and despite crossing the finish line first. Johan was under investigation for the incident and was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the FIA Stewards.  

"I was a bit worried but I would have been disappointed with another decision from the judges. Johan was ahead of Andreas with the length of a car," Tommy Kristoffersson said.

Having clinched his fourth win of the season, Johan has now taken a step closer to a third FIA World Rallycross Championship having increased his lead in the championship by 27 points. Should he outscore Mattias Ekström in Belgium, he would seal the title with a round to go. 

"I'm so satisfied. I couldn't be happier than this," the championship leader added.

Written By - Junaid Samodien

Kristoffersson extends championship despite second place finish in Barcelona.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jakub Nitka

Johan Kristoffersson extended his championship lead despite a second-place finish at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona. 

The double World Champion arrived in Barcelona with a mission to keep the distance to Mattias Ekström, without taking big risks. His competitors had other things in mind, and gave him a tough Saturday. 

"I picked up 27 points today. You don't lose the title because of days like that," Kristoffersson said. 

Q1 saw Niclas Grönholm squeeze Kristoffersson into the wall at the first corner, but his Volkswagen Polo was only left with minor scars and from there he was untouchable crossing the line 3.137 seconds ahead of Gronholm, Bennett, and Scheider.  

In Q2 an aggressive first corner saw Robin Larsson squeeze the Marklund and Kristoffersson. The latter hit the tyre barrier seeing him launch up on two-wheels and coming out behind Larsson and Timmy Hansen while Marklund hit the rear bumper of Kristoffersson. 

Comfortably in the lead, Larsson's right suspension broke seeing him hit the tyre barrier, and while Timmy Hansen took the lead, but he was quickly hunted down by Kristoffersson with a damaged Polo R Supercar and ultimately be overtaken based on joker strategy. 

"Yes, the car is really well built. That could have ended much worse," he said.

Kristoffersson rounded off by winning Q3, finishing top qualifier for the fifth time this season, and picking up 16 points.

In the semi-finals, he got another knock on the rear end from Ekstrom and stuck on to lead and comfortably win the semi-final securing pole position for the final. 

The final got off to a bang, on the front row the Swede had four used tyres while Timmy Hansen on the outside had four new tyres. Whilst Johan got off to a good start, Timmy Hansen hugged the inside line and Johan hit the barrier at the first corner looking front bumper and bodywork but still led the race. 

"When I lost the front the car it became somewhat understeery," he said

Despite lacking some front end performance, he took the fight with Timmy all the way to the finish line, in what was a real rallycross battle from both of them. Both Johan and Timmy were reprimanded by the stewards for two separate collisions in the final.   

"The Hansen team were strong today. Timmy and the whole Hansen team have done a fantastic job between the races, I’ve seen they’ve been testing and pushing on and that’s what keeps us on our toes as well," Kristoffersson said

Tommy Kristoffersson, the Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS boss explains the team's tactics today.

"We could have been more aggressive with tyre and joker strategy, but today we wanted to secure qualifying points and a starting position up front for the semis and final. Collecting points was more important than securing the victory," he said.

The strategy/tactics worked out well, as Ekström was not having one of his best days, and Johan extended his championship lead from 17 to 25 points.

Written by - Junaid Samodien

Kristoffersson hopes to extend championship lead "without taking big risks" in Barcelona.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX

Two-time World Champion Johan Kristoffersson heads to Barcelona with a seventeen point lead in the FIA World Rallycross Championship and aims to take no big risks with just four rounds remaining this season. 

The championship is now at a crucial stage with just four rounds to go, two of them being a double-header at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona this weekend, and Johan aims to collect as many points as possible. 

"60 points up for grabs. My idea, as usual, is to collect as many points as possible without taking big risks," said Johan Kristoffersson.

In the hunt for a third title, Kristoffersson got off to a winning start in Sweden but has not had it all his own way. The Swede has won the opening round of each double-header, with Mattias Ekström, his championship rival often taking the win on the second day (next round). 

While Ekström is seventeen points behind the Volkswagen Dealearteam BAUHAUS driver ahead of rounds seven and eight, Niclas Grönholm isn't too far away either, only 49 points behind the championship leader.

The Swede is aware that while Mattias is his toughest opponent this season, but admits that the Hansen brothers, Niclas and Robin Larsson are just as strong. 

"Mattias is closest in the standings and will be a tough opponent, but Timmy and Kevin (Hansen) were strong in Spain last year and then there is Grönholm and Robin (Larsson) as well," he said

Johan won his last event in Barcelona, in 2018, and even though Ekström was first over the finish line, he was later penalized for an incident with Petter Solberg in the first corner. 

The launch (start) in Barcelona can be very decisive this weekend. 

"Since they moved the start forward it has become somewhat hazardous," he says.

At the last race, in Riga, there was a lot of talk about tyre strategy. Tommy Kristoffersson, the Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS team boss thinks that the tyre strategy/tactics might be less decisive this weekend.

"This track is not that demanding for the tyres, but if you are unlucky with the draw for Q1 you might have to sacrifice a set of tyres to get back into the game," he said. 

Tommy is confident ahead of Barcelona, as the team is coming into the event with a good points advantage and admits that his team has sorted a few things out on the Volkswagen Polo R Supercar.

"We don't have to chase. Since Riga, we have sorted things out on the car and found some good solutions," Tommy Kristoffersson said. 

During the break between Riga and Barcelona, while some of his rivals have been out testing other machinery or even their supercars, as they aim to close up on the championship leader. Johan made two guest appearances in the Carrera Cup Scandinavia series and picked up two podium finishes. 

While Johan Kristoffersson has been fairly dominant on the opening round of a double-header weekend, the question remains: Can secure a double win? We will surely find out this weekend!

Written By - Junaid Samodien

Kristoffersson pleased despite not extending championship lead in Riga.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX

It wasn't a race victory on Sunday, but Johan Kristoffersson is pleased with his overall weekend in Riga-Latvia, as he maintains a seventeen point lead in the World Rallycross Championship. 

The double world champion took this third win of the season in round 5 of the championship on Saturday, and did not get off to a good start on Sunday. Championship rival Mattias Ekström dominated the qualifying sessions to earn the top qualifiers spot, but Johan is happy with his weekend in Latvia. 

"Two more races are done and not so many points left to fight for," Kristoffersson said. 

The double-header at the Bikernieki National Sports Base became a tyre strategy mind game. And, while Kristoffersson gambled in the qualifying sessions on Saturday, battling his way through on mostly used tyres, he finished second in the Intermediate Classification (after qualifying) and picked up fifteen points.

In the semi-final, he had fresh tyres and showed his great pace, winning in style.

"[The win] was the reward for the fight in Q2 and Q3," he said.

He went on to take a convincing victory on Saturday to claim his third win of the season.

Round six (on Sunday) saw, Kristoffersson fighting to earn the top spot. However, he came out second-best behind Mattias Ekström.

"The fight was all the way to the end, but really the biggest chance for victory today was in Q1. When I didn’t manage to take the start there, in Q2 I didn’t manage to beat Mattias again, and then I knew he already had a good tyre strategy then for Q3. I was on the back foot from thereon," the Kristoffersson Motorsport driver said.

In semi-final two, he started from pole position and won fairly easily, and for the final, he lined up alongside Ekström who was on pole position with new tyres on both cars.

"We were very aggressive on the tyres in the semi-final so I had four new tyres for the final the same as Mattias, I had a good launch, but so did Mattias. Then there was not much more to do," he said. 

"I was on the outside for turn one, and thereafter I just had to follow him, saving as many tyres as I could for five laps before the joker, but there was a little too much argy-bargy with Grönholm at the joker merge and during the lap, so I couldn’t really challenge Mattias at the last corner. But, I picked up as many points as I could, without winning, so I can't be disappointed."

Kristoffersson took 29 points from round five on Saturday and 26 more points from round six (on Sunday) with a total of 55 from the weekend, the same as Ekström, which sees the two split by seventeen points in the championship standings with four rounds remaining.

"I have only lost 14 points from six races," Johan adds.

The duel between Kristoffersson and Ekström is set to continue in Spain in four weeks' time, at another double-header.

Written By - Junaid Samodien

Kristoffersson extends championship lead with dominant win in Latvia.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX. 

Johan Kristoffersson took his 23rd career victory of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Riga-Latvia, after a well-executed tyre strategy. 

Despite posting the fastest time in Q1, Kristoffersson used an alternate tyre strategy, which put in on the back foot against his rivals in Q3 (on new tyres). But the Swede would have the upperhand in the semi-final and final with five new tyres. He finished the three qualifying heats in second-place overall behind Niclas Gronholm (in the immediate classification) and rubber stamped a place in the semi-finals. 

Semi-final one saw Mattias Ekstrom start on used tyres, but that was no disadvantage for the Swede, as he immediately sweeped around the outside and into the lead after a good start, and he would control the race all the way to the checkered flag. 

While Johan Kristoffersson unleashed three new tyres (two on the front and one on the left rear). He had a superb launch off the line and led from start to finish. And, that was not all... he also produced the fastest lap of the day, a 48.391 second lap. 

Starting on pole position for the final, Kristoffersson was the only driver with new tyres (front tyres) and had a good launch off the line, only to be challenged by KYB Team JC's Robin Larsson who clipped the rear of Johan's Polo supercar, then was spun around the front of Mattias Ekstrom. While Kevin Hansen sweeped around the outside of Ekstrom to claimed P2 after the 2016 champion backed off due to the turn two melee. Facing the wrong way at turn two, Larsson was hit by Gronholm who was intern hit by Timmy Hansen. 

Clear from all the bumping and grinding behind, Kristoffersson pulled a two-second gap to pursuing Kevin [Hansen] who tried to make an impact, but with an early joker lap strategy. The Team Hansen driver would fall behind Mattias Ekstrom, and would ultimately finish behind his older brother Timmy Hansen. 

The untouchable Kristoffersson crossed line 3.468 seconds ahead of Mattias Ekstrom and Timmy Hansen, to claim his third win of the 2020 World RX season and also extend his Championship lead to 21 points.

"This feels very good. We were really pushing hard in Q2 and Q3, I was not really able to pull off the best times, but instead we had some good tyres for the semi-final and final so I think we had a big jump on our competitors or terms of tyres, then we had two good starts, and everything is much easier when you have fresh tyres," Kristoffersson said. "Big thanks to the team, we made some changes between Q3 and the semi-final and it actually made the car better so that feels good to gamble and go in the right direction."

Ekstrom’s second-place finish in Riga-Lativia is his 25th podium finish of his career and he admits that in order to beat Johan Kristoffersson, he needs to be spot on with everything he does. 

"The first corner of the final was a little bit too exciting, I don’t know exactly what happened to Robin, we’ll have to watch the television, but it was a bit messy and after I drove as fast as I could behind Kevin. After he jokered I had a clear track and ended up P2. For sure that was not our wish when we came here, we wanted to win but during qualifying we were not good enough so we couldn’t do good enough starts so we couldn’t be at the front in Q1 and Q2," Ekstrom said.

"When you’re on the back foot then you have to try and recover and I think P2 is a good recovery, but you need to be spot on to win these races especially when the other guys are in top shape as well."

Timmy Hansen's third-place finish meant it was an all-Swedish top three and also ensured that the podium was filled by World RX Drivers’ Champions (Kristoffersson 2017-18, Ekstrom 2016, Hansen 2019).

The Team Hansen driver is rather pleased with a podium finish after a hard-fought day in Riga. "We had a tough day. We see glimpses of really good performance, some good launches and I’ve been fastest on lap time many times today, but you know when you’re not upfront then it’s not easy," he said. "We need to improve those launches so we can be at the front of the races from the beginning. I must say coming in third is really good and I’m super happy about that. The team has worked so hard and it is paying off, but at this level, it’s a slow process to gain speed, but I’m quite confident tomorrow will be even better."

Kevin Hansen brought his Peugeot 208 across the line in fourth-place after avoiding the turn two melee but was unable to make inroads on Kristoffersson or Ekstrom, while top qualifier Niclas Gronholm finished in fifth followed by Robin Larsson in sixth-place.

While Johan [Kristoffersson] has a 100% record of converting front row starts to victories on Saturday's, he is yet to win an event on Sunday [double-header], and thus could be called a Saturday man. However, if he is able to put it all together on a Sunday, he will climb onto the top step of the podium. 

Despite winning this afternoon in Riga-Lativa, the Swede will already have a plan for the sixth round six the FIA World Rallycross Championship tomorrow at the Bikernieki track in Latvia.

Written By - Junaid Samodien

Kristoffersson aims to extend championship lead in Riga.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool.

Johan Kristoffersson heads to Riga with a seventeen point advantage in the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship over Mattias Ekström, with one aim in mind - to extend the championship lead. 

The two-time World Champion has been nothing short of spectacular this season having claimed the converted top qualifiers spot in all four rounds thus far, and was only able to convert two pole position starts to victories. 

With a win in Höljes and one in Kouvola, he has amassed 111 points, compared to Mattias Ekström on 94 points and Niclas Grönholm's on 76 points. 

"Many points are up for grabs this weekend but I hope to keep the distance", Kristoffersson said.

With two doubleheaders, the first in Sweden followed by Finland two weeks ago, it has been a very demanding start to the season for all involved due to the compressed 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship calendar as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

"I was really exhausted coming home from Finland, but during a bike ride a couple of days later I found my way back to normal," he said. 

The Swede has not had it all his own way thus far despite a dominant performance in qualifying. In Kouvola (Finland), his Volkswagen Polo suffered from a mechanical issue, which the team was able to solve ahead of the semi-finals and final. 

To get ahead of the double world champion, Ekström and Grönholm had to capitalize on joker lap tactics and mistakes from the Swede to get ahead and ultimately win. 

While Kristoffersson rues these missed opportunities in Sweden and Finland, he is eager to get ahead of the game with a full analysis programme ahead of the Latvian doubleheader this weekend. 

"I always do a lot of analysis and this track gives you a great output if you do your job right," he said. "Lately, my office has looked like a surveillance center, with all the screens, servers, and hard drives."

"There are a lot of details in this track, with a racing character, but more technical than for example Lohéac. I look at my own performances, but also analyze my competitors. We all have different backgrounds, from rally and racing to rallycross, and every driver makes their own considerations. You have to pick the best options."

Johan has great memories from the Bikernieki circuit, where he secured his first championship title in 2017 and returned for another win in 2018. 

"17th September 2017, a day to be remembered, and coming back in 2018 was a special feeling as well," he adds.

Tommy Kristoffersson, the team boss of Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS is well aware of the importance of the weekend in Latvia and has bolstered the team with more personnel from Volkswagen Motorsport in a pursuit for the much desired third crown. A good result in Riga can put Johan in a great position for the rest of the season.

"We have boosted our team with even more knowledge from Volkswagen Motorsport, the best there is, which of course also includes our own guys, who have worked tirelessly so far," Timmy Kristoffersson said. "We are ready to fight!"

Written By - Junaid Samodien