Flawless Timo Scheider claimed an "emotional" maiden victory in South Africa today, bringing an end to Johan Kristoffersson's dominant run in the 2023 FIA World Rallycross Championship. 
PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool
After finishing third on Saturday – matching his previous best result from the 2023 season – Scheider got the better of all of his rivals today to reach the top step of the podium.
The All-Inkl Munnich Motorsport driver’s day did not get off to the best of starts with a rear motor failure, which was investigated by the FIA Stewards, however, QEV technologies accepted responsibility, and therefore, the German was given a joker. His luck did not get any better picking up a puncture in Heat 1.
Trying to correct the wrongs, he battled his way to victory in heats two and three, moving him into the overall standings lead, which meant he would secure pole position for the first semi-final.
The German continued his strong turn in form winning both the semi-final and final [starting from pole position] crossing the chequered flag just over three-tenths-of-a-second ahead of Kevin Hansen.
“It’s pretty difficult to describe this right now. I feel quite emotional. It wasn't always easy, but we've been always fighting and trying hard to put everything together because competition in World Rallycross is pretty high and I always try to squeeze the most out of what I have. It's super, super tricky, and challenging to beat them [the other elite drivers], but today we managed, so I am not only proud of the team but also proud of myself," he said.
"After turn one [in the final], I was like, OK, let's do this tight and clean, as good as possible, just to make your way to turn two and three. So when that worked, I was more relaxed. And right after, I just tried to focus on my race. And then the final call with the joker came from my engineer, he just gave me the call at the right time, I guess. But he said, we are clear, it felt amazing, but when we entered the last time."
"I want to dedicate this victory to my dad, who passed away last year. And to all of the fans here in Cape Town – thank you for being amazing!” he added.
Having had the first opportunity to seal the title, Johan Kristoffersson, admitted to "completely sleeping on the start line. So, I think it's better to go when it's green [he joked]" at the start of the final, enabling Kevin to dive up the inside and into second place.
Try as he might, the Swede was never able to get back ahead.
"After all, it was a good weekend for me, even though you always want to do more," the five-time World Champion said. "Losing Q2 set the pace for the rest of the day. I got involved in a lot of traffic. It's hard when you feel that you have the pace but you can't use it."
With victory in Cape Town, the two-time DTM Champion has moved up the championship standings to third, with just three points between him and Kevin Hansen.
Klara Andersson crossed the finish line fourth following a much-improved display compared to the previous day, just ahead of Timmy Hansen, but their positions were switched after the 23-year-Swede was handed a penalty for a breach of AppendixI, Chapter V2 [B] of the FIA's International Sporting code.
"It was a tough weekend. Both me and Niclas have struggled to find the feeling in the car. It is a difficult track, and the fact that I am here for the first time also plays in," she said. "We have had the same problem all weekend, and experimented with the set-up, and it felt a bit better today."
Her team-mate, Niclas Grönholm – the winner in South Africa four years ago – had a rocky start to the day having had a puncture, and contact during the other heats.
"It was a tricky weekend. I could not put on whole race together. At times, there were some positive lap times and such, but something was missing all the time," he said.
If Niclas had issues, then OC Veiby had tissues... the Norweigan had endless car trouble, with it either shutting down on track or a crash into the barriers at turn eight, which meant he'd finish in seventh overall just ahead of All-Inkl Munnich Motorsport team owner Rene Munnich.
"I don't know what to say. It's hard to believe all the problems I had this weekend, and we couldn't solve it, because there were no spare parts," Ole Christian stated.
The 2023 World RX Championship will now move from Cape Town to downtown Hong Kong for the series' title-deciding double-header [final rounds].
"It's always fun to head to a new venue in Hong Kong, so that will be fun and then also a new track is always a challenge to go there, and hopefully, a very limited amount of testing as well. It always makes it even more exciting to learn a new track," Kristoffersson said.
FINAL RESULT: WORLD RX
1. Timo Scheider [ALL-INKL Münnich Motorsport]
2. Kevin Hansen [Hansen World RX Team] + 1.021s
3. Johan Kristoffersson [Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS] + 1.344s
4. Timmy Hansen [Hansen World RX Team] + 6.656s
*5. Klara Andersson [CE Dealer Team] + 6.175s
6. Niclas Gronholm [CE Dealer Team] + 8.532s
*1 position penalty
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