Johan Kristoffersson has extended his 2023 FIA World Rallycross Championship lead with another convincing win in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday afternoon. 
PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool
It wasn't all plain sailing for Kristoffersson, who had to work hard to fight back after having his unbeaten SuperPole record broken by a hungry Kevin Hansen by the slimmest of margins - 0.081s, whilst three different drivers won the heat races - Johan, Timo Scheider and Timmy Hansen.
However, it was the Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS driver who was more consistent than the rest of the field ending the heats at the summit of the standings ahead of Timmy Hansen and Scheider.
Kristoffersson and team-mate OC Veiby claimed victory in their respective semi-final. The latter had the path opened for him after Timmy Hansen hit a rutt at turn 3, which sent him straight into the barrier on the jump. The older of the Hansen brothers' kept pushing kept it pinned to bring his damaged ZERIOD X1 home in second to seal a place in the final behind the aforementioned Veiby.
Having locked out the front row, it seemed relatively simple for Johan Kristoffersson, who placed his car at a defensive angle from pole position, but with a good start, he luckily survived a turn-one squeeze in the final to make his escape, whilst the Hansen brothers' looked to make the most of their day.
As Kristoffersson scampered off into the distance, OC Veiby came under immense pressure, to the extent that he defended quite aggressively, leading to Timo Scheider slipping up the inside of both to slot into second on the road, whilst Veiby stopped on track and was later reprimanded for the incident with Timmy.
Kevin Hansen who jokered on lap 2, kept pushing whilst the drama happened ahead, to claim second over, whilst Johan emerged victorious by 3.915s to claim his 39th career victory.
“It’s really good to be back and it’s always nice to win,” Kristoffersson said. “It was a tricky day, but I was lucky enough not to be in the traffic too much; I imagine it was easier for me than for the others, because it was difficult to follow with such limited visibility. These cars are a little bit different to the ones we are used to driving and the field is really tight. The first couple of corners in the final were pretty exciting and I actually thought I was going to spin in Turn Two; the track also got quite rutted in places, so I just played it safe to avoid any punctures and bring it home. Now we’ll try to do the same again tomorrow.”
Speaking in the press conference after the final, the top three drivers pointed out that the circuit was quite challenging with the amount of dust, which caused visibility issues, which they have demanded should be fixed with the use of more dust-ex.
The action continues tomorrow at the Killarney International Racing tomorrow, with Johan potentially on the cards to lift a sixth championship title should be win the final. But, can anyon stop the Super Swede?
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