RallyX Nordic presented by Cooper Tires’ 2020 campaign came to a dramatic conclusion at Denmark’s Nysumbanen circuit today (6 September). The Final Showdown lived up to its name, with all four championships decided on the last day of the season and livestream viewers treated to thrilling wheel-to-wheel duels.
Henrik Krogstad and #YellowSquad were the dominant force during today’s running, as the Norwegian fended off challenges from all of his title rivals to seal his second win of the season and, ultimately, the Supercar Lites title.
Jesse Kallio ended the season as runner-up. The Finn was walking wounded this weekend, but still managed to notch an impressive two podiums in as many days. Simon Olofsson’s pace promised so much at Nysumbanen but yielded few results for his efforts, after a clumsy collision with Kallio in the semi-finals earned him a disqualification and put paid to his title tilt.
The aforementioned high-speed roll for Linus Östlund was almost certainly one of the most pivotal points of the day. The championship protagonist was fighting for a Q3 race victory with stablemate Martin Enlund when the pair collided at the joker merge. Four full rolls of the car later, and the Swede emerged unscathed but understandably devastated that his challenge was effectively over. At this point, it was all hands on deck as the team stepped in, along with Oliver Eriksson and Joel Christofferson lending their assistance to get the car ready for Q3.
Despite Östlund eventually falling out of title contention, it was still an incredible effort by the Olsbergs MSE squad to get the car ready in time and a true representation of the powerful rallycross paddock spirit.
Henrik Krogstad said: “The win at Arvika gave me a lot of confidence coming here – we were on the pace all weekend there, and we carried that momentum into this meeting.
“Going into the final, I knew we had great speed and that if I kept a good rhythm, there should be no problems. Of course, we then did have a problem – the car in the entry to the joker – but I didn’t really think about the joker until the lap I went for it. It was as close as it can get, and the rest of the joker was great with a little Scandinavian flick.
“I was extremely relieved to come out ahead of Guillaume [De Ridder], but to be honest, I feel like I won the race at the start. It’s so important to get the start just right, get into the rhythm and keep putting in consistent laps – and that paid off.”
Results
1. Henrik KROGSTAD (NOR) YellowSquad 5 laps
2. Guillaume DE RIDDER (BEL) Olsbergs MSE +1.359s
3. Jesse KALLIO (FIN) Olsbergs MSE +4.
4. Jimmie WALFRIDSON (SWE) JC Raceteknik +5.957s
5. Niklas ANEKLEV (SWE) Olsber
6. Gustav JOHANSSON (SWE) VGracing +3 laps
Championship Standings
1. Henrik KROGSTAD (NOR) 125 points
2. Jesse KALLIO (FIN) 114 points
3. Simon OLOFSSON (SWE) 101 points
4. Linus ÖSTLUND (SWE) 98 points
5. Jimmie WALFRIDSON (SWE) 78 points
6. Mats OSKARSSON(SWE) 65 points