av Webmaster | maj 29, 2016 | News
Volkswagen RX Sweden driver Johan Kristoffersson once again offered strong competition in his Volkswagen Polo RX Supercar in the fourth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill. He fought for a place in the final when he suffered a puncture, but still keeps his position in the overall classification.
Johan Kristoffersson finished seventh overall at the end of day one, and progressed through Q3 and Q4 on day two to make the semi-finals. He was set to reach the final for the third time in the opening four events of the season, but a puncture put him out of contention.
“We had some small issues in practice which continued into Q1, but we had a good race and finished fifth. In Q2 it wasn’t the best but we managed to be tenth,” said Johan. “We improved the car a lot for Sunday but we’re still missing some speed, we need to find a few tenths. In the semi-final I was in the position to move into the final but we had a puncture.”
Despite a race weekend with some minor difficulties, Johan is still in third place in the overall Drivers’ Championship standings and will be out looking to advance his position at the fifth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, which takes place at Hell, Norway (June 11 – 12).
av Webmaster | maj 15, 2016 | News
Johan Kristoffersson had a good feeling all through the weekend at the third round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Mettet in Belgium. He fought every meter of the way, but a technical problem in the final gave him a sixth place. Still he climbed up to third place in the drivers’ championship.
Johan Kristoffersson once again proved winning pace from the Volkswagen Polo RX Supercar by setting fastest time in both Saturday morning Free Practice sessions and moved up to third in the drivers’ championship standings. He enjoyed competing on the Mettet circuit in Belgium and was fourth after the qualifying heats, but wasn’t able to capitalise from third position on the grid in the final due to a technical issue.
“I had a pretty good feeling through the whole weekend. I like the track here 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,” said Johan. “Me and my teammate Anton finished side-by-side in Q1 but after that in every race I started in P3 or worse. The start position here is so crucial; if you get stuck in the dust, there are too many fast guys to make up the one or two positions to score the big points in the qualifying races. 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.”
The fourth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship takes place at Lydden Hill, Great Britain (May 27 – 29).
av Webmaster | maj 8, 2016 | News
EVEN Management and Volkswagen RX Sweden’s Johan Kristofferson once again showed incredible pace at the second round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Hockenheimring in Germany. Unfortunately a hit in the semi-final put a stop to his fight for the victory this weekend.
Johan Kristoffersson qualified for pole position for semi-final two, following a run of consistently fast times through the qualifying races. The Swede led into the first corner of the semi-final, only to be hit hard from championship leader Petter Solberg, pushing bodywork onto the left rear tyre, which punctured on lap two.
Using all of his skill, and much to the delight of the thousands of DTM and rallycross fans in the Sachs Arena section of the German venue, Johan amazingly led the race until the fifth lap despite the puncture, but was unable to hold on any longer and only just missed out on qualifying for the final.
Johan was disappointed not to have been able to fight for victory, but knows his recent bad luck will change soon.
“If you bend something on the car you could manage for six laps, but if you have a puncture you can only manage for five … We had a good Q1 and a pretty spectacular start in Q2, which put us in a good position for Q3 and Q4, where I tired to stay out of trouble,” said Johan. “In the semi-final we had a pretty clear strategy, to try to stay on the inside, but I got a really big hit from the rear and on lap two I got a puncture. I just tried to hang on as long as I could and make it hard for the guys behind, but lost out on the last lap. We had the speed in Portugal and we had the speed again here. We don’t need to change what we are doing, we just need some luck. We will stay focused of course, sometimes you have a headwind but this is a long season and things will change for us soon.”
Despite not being able to secure the desired result at Hockenheim, Volkswagen RX Sweden Team Principle Michael Schneider is satisfied that the Volkswagen Polo RX and the team’s driver have the pace to win this season.
“We were first in the first corner of the semi-final but we were hit for the second race in a row by [Petter] Solberg. Johan is doing an amazing job. It was incredible from him, how he fought in the semi-final to keep the others behind for three laps was very impressive. That really shows his skills and capabilities,” said Schneider.
The third round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship takes place next weekend at Mettet, Belgium (May 13 – 15), where the team has been victorious for the last two seasons.
