PSRX Volkswagen Sweden’s Johan Kristoffersson scored victory in the World RX of South Africa, the final round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship.

Sweden’s Kristoffersson set three quickest qualifying times to claim TQ (top qualifier) position in his Volkswagen Polo R on World RX’s second visit to Cape Town’s Killarney International Raceway before winning both semi-final one and the final to secure his record breaking 11th win of the season.

EKS Audi Sport’s Mattias Ekstrom started on the third row of the grid for the final in his Audi S1 and climbed to second during the race with a strong start, after securing second in the World RX Drivers’ Championship when his team mate Andreas Bakkerud retired from the semi-finals. Team Peugeot Total’s Sebastien Loeb completed his third full World RX programme with another podium in his Peugeot 208 and finished ahead of team mate Kevin Hansen in the final.

“I have to say today is quite emotional. This season comes to an end and it’s been a fantastic year for me, really the world championship title sinks in a little bit more now. I really have to thank this great team, they have done everything for me,” said Kristoffersson “Without them it wouldn’t be possible. I have said that so many times since my first victory in Belgium 2017, but this one meant a lot to me.”

Ekstrom was pleased to finish his year on the podium. “We actually came to Cape Town to win the race. We were fast throughout the entire weekend, but somehow didn’t get into the right rhythm,” said Ekstrom.

“In the final things finally fell into place. Second is a fantastic result and a good end to a long season, in which Johan was always a small step ahead. Even so, I’m extremely proud of the entire team: We extracted the maximum from our resources. It was also a fabulous year with Andreas. We had a lot of fun together and have something to celebrate this evening.”

Loeb set the fastest time in Q1 on Saturday and finished on the podium for the seventh time in 2018. “The car was good here, we improved it all year and since the middle of the season we have changed a lot of things,” he said. “I think we had good performance, we tried to improve some details and here in the last race were really competitive. I had a good weekend and finally to be third overall, I’m happy.”

PSRX Volkswagen Sweden’s Petter Solberg won the Monster Energy Supercharge Award for having the fastest reaction time at the start of the final in his Volkswagen Polo R but retired on the second lap after a spin. Team Peugeot Total’s Timmy Hansen joined team mate Loeb on the second row of the grid for the final but retired after contact with Solberg’s car.

GRX Taneco Team’s Timur Timerzyanov and GC Kompetition’s Anton Marklund finished fourth in the semi-finals and didn’t progress to the final. Team STARD’s Janis Baumanis finished fifth in semi-final one, but EKS Audi Sport’s Andreas Bakkerud retired with a technical issue. ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport’s Timo Scheider was fifth in semi-final two but GC Kompetition’s Guerlain Chicherit retired on the fifth lap.

GRX’s Niclas Gronholm was first reserve for the semi-finals in 13th and Olsbergs MSE’s Kevin Eriksson and Robin Larsson concluded their 2018 seasons in 14th and 15th. Sebastien Loeb Racing’s Gregoire Demoustier finished his first full World RX campaign 17th in South Africa.

Norway’s Ben Philip-Gundersen won the final round of the RX2 International Series ahead of compatriot Sondre Evjen and Latvia’s Vasily Gryazin. Sweden’s Oliver Eriksson entered the final round locked in a battle with Belgium’s Guillaume De-Ridder for the title and wrapped up the single-make championship by qualifying for the final.

Eriksson led on the on lap one but stopped with technical issues and was classified sixth. Sweden’s William Nilsson finished fourth and Finland’s Sami-Matti Trogen was fifth.

GCK has completed its driver line-up for the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship with the signing of Jérôme Grosset-Janin alongside Guerlain Chicherit in the all-new Prodrive-engineered Renault Megane R.S. RX. The team also confirmed Timo Scheider will come on board as test and development driver.

This season will see the Renault brand represented as a permanent full season entry in World RX for the first time with GCK choosing the latest generation Megane R.S. as its machinery and enlisting renowned engineering group Prodrive to lead the design and development of its ambitious project.

World RX Managing Director for IMG, Paul Bellamy, commented: “The arrival of GC Kompetition with the new Renault Megane R.S. RX has been one of the big stories ahead the 2018 World RX season and I cannot wait to see it going up against the best in the world with Jérôme and Guerlain at the wheel. It’s great to see Jérôme getting a full-time drive in World RX this season as part of this exciting project and I can think of no better choice than Timo to lead that all-important development and ensure the Megane R.S. RX laps as fast as it looks.

Runner-up in the FIA European Rallycross Championship in both 2015 and 2016, though Grosset-Janin has made a handful of World RX appearances in recent years, 2018 will be the 33 year-old Frenchman’s first full international season.

“GCK has developed an awesome project, and for the team to have partnered with Prodrive’s technical expertise gives me great confidence in the project. Thanks to an innovative and bold technical design, the Megane R.S. RX looks super aggressive. 

“When I first had a look at the car, I got really excited. It transcends the usual way of how things have been done so far and represents what really gets me inspired and motivated: to think outside the box and dare to go big. Driving at a very high level is every child’s dream and I’m impatient and ambitious to drive at the highest level of the world championship this year.”

GCK will also head into the season with the benefit of experience from World RX podium winner and DTM champion Timo Scheider, who comes on board to focus on the Megane R.S. RX’s test and development work through the year.

“For me, this collaboration with GCK presents a really good and exciting opportunity to pass on my knowledge from extensive motorsports experience whilst gaining further experience in Rallycross. I’m really looking forward to facing this challenge together and hope that we end up with a hugely successful result on RX tracks around the world! I can’t wait to continue testing to see the Mégane R.S. RX race competitively come April!.”

With GCK and Prodrive busily testing the Megane R.S RX ahead of its competition debut in Spain next month, team owner-driver Chicherit is thrilled to welcome both Grosset-Janin and Scheider into the team. 

“I’m so stoked to have Jérôme join us as my team mate – we’ll be a French force to be reckoned with. Jérôme is incredibly hungry for this opportunity and I can already see a nice bit of team mate rivalry forming between us, which should make for a really exciting, promising season. Jérôme is a very experienced driver, he knows the sport and the tracks very well and brings quite a lot of experience to GCK. 

“Being a two-time runner up in EuroRX, he’s already demonstrated he’s ready to challenge for a Championship, so now it’s on GCK to deliver him a good car too! 

“Having Timo on board to support with initial testing is already a big win for GCK - Timo’s experience is proving valuable as we develop the car for the season start in Barcelona. We’re working hard right now to ensure GCK ends up on the podium sometime this season! That would be a dream for me as GCK Team Principal to see one of our cars up there.”

The GCK Renault R.S. RX will get its debut at the World RX Championship season-opener in Barcelona from 14-15 April.

Team Peugeot Total’s Sebastien Loeb has won the Coyote World of Belgium after coming out on top of a thrilling final in Mettet.

The Frenchman led from the opening corner to resist the attentions of Petter Solberg to the chequered flag, Loeb notching up both and Peugeot’s first World RX win since Latvia in 2016.

An exciting conclusion on a day of fantastic action throughout, Loeb got the hole-shot off the line in the final to head Johan Kristoffersson initially through the tight right-hander. despite the championship leader briefly being kicked up on two wheels against the inside barrier as the six-car field funnelled into turn one.

However, a better exit would allow Timmy Hansen slot ahead of the his countryman to place Peugeot 1-2, followed by Kristoffersson and his PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team-mate Petter Solberg. 

With the two Audis of Andreas Bakkerud and Mattias Ekstrom trailing in fifth and sixth after losing time with separate wide moments on the opening lap, it was Solberg would move for the Joker first in an attempt to get himself back into contention. It would prove a shrewd move, the Norwegian picking off Kristoffersson and then getting the better of Hansen once they had made their moves.

Loeb, however, would keep his composure to sustain the pressure from Solberg and reel off a popular win in Mettet, the second of his World RX career.

Solberg and Hansen completed the podium, with a recovering Ekstrom – who took his Joker on the final lap – just grabbing fourth from championship leader Kristoffersson. Bakkerud followed in sixth as the entire field finished within three seconds of one another.

Despite a disappointing result in the final, Kristoffersson still leads the overall standings (75 points), ahead of Loeb (66), Solberg (65), Bakkerud (61) and Hansen (59).

GRX TANECO will expand to run a two-car FIA World Rallycross Championship  effort in 2018 with Timur Timerzyanov joining Niclas Grönholm in campaigning a pair of privateer Hyundai i20 Supercars. 

The Finnish-based team, headed up by two-time World Rally Champion Marcus Grönholm, ran a Ford Fiesta RXS driven by Marcus’ son Niclas last season but increases its commitment to World RX in 2018 by adding double FIA European Rallycross Champion Timerzyanov in an eye-catching driver line-up.  

World RX Managing Director for IMG, Paul Bellamy, commented: “We are delighted to see GRX TANECO committing to World RX in 2018 by not only doubling its efforts with a two-car entry but doing so with the welcome support from Hyundai.

“In Timur and Niclas, GRX’s driver line-up demonstrates a formidable blend of experience and youth and with a world champion in Marcus Gronholm lending his invaluable expertise in his role as team principal, I’m certain the GRX TANECO Team is destined for great results this season.

Though this will be first time the Hyundai brand has been represented on the World RX stage as a permanent full-season entry, the GRX TANECO i20 Supercar has been developed for rallycross from the manufacturer’s proven 2016 World Rally Car platform.

GRX TANECO Team Principal, Marcus Grönholm: “We have chosen to use the Hyundai i20 for this programme because of my previous connections with Michel Nandan [Hyundai WRC Team Principal]. We have a good relationship but this is a private project. We don’t have any manufacturer backing like some of the other teams in World Rallycross but we have a lot of information from when we bought the cars from Hyundai. 

“So far the car looks very good. I was dreaming to be on the track by now but in the next two weeks we will start testing and I’m confident. We have some new solutions which haven’t been seen before and I’m excited to get to the track. 

“We know Timur can get the results and Niclas has been working hard this winter. He showed some good pace last year and I’m hopeful that they can both do good things this year. I will be surprised if we can’t be fighting with the big boys at least sometimes. The first target is semi-finals, then the final and podium. I think that’s fully possible.”

FIA European RX champion in 2012 and 2013, Timerzyanov believes the GRX TANECO project is the ideal platform to get him back on the podium in World RX.

“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, maybe since the end of 2014 actually and I’m really excited. This is a big step for the future, on the technical side with the car and the whole team. I’m really happy that long-term partner TANECO will be title-sponsor for the team and I can’t wait to start testing. I’m really happy to have Niclas as my team mate, he has shown his potential already last year and it’s a good feeling to work with Marcus too, he really understands me as a driver. 

“He has the same targets as me for this season, to get good results and he knows the best way to achieve that. I’m also really pleased to be back with Jussi after I worked with him in the past. We need to be consistent all the time this year I see no problems with racing among the top drivers. I want to also thank my other loyal sponsor Viatti, they have been with me for a long time and I’m excited to continue my relationship with them in this programme.”

Competing in what will be his third full season of World RX action, 21 year-old Gronholm is looking to build on a positive 2017 campaign that yielded a maiden race final appearance in Germany.
 
“Everything looks good on paper for the new car and what the guys in the workshop have been telling me is exciting. I have no doubt that it will be competitive. In many races last year I had good pace but the starts were the problem. We have been working on that problem over the winter in terms of how I sit in the car and the angles of the pedals. 

“I’ve done quite a lot of driving over the winter to try to train my weaknesses, rotating the car in the tight corners and things to try and build on that. Having a competitive team mate is the biggest thing for me this year. Timur is very experienced and it will be very good for me have someone good to compare data with, to help each other. I have no doubt that it will work well and I’m very positive.”

The GRX TANECO Team will first be seen in action at the World RX Championship season-opener in Barcelona from 14-15 April.