JC Raceteknik targets double RallyX Nordic Championship glory in Strangnas finale
Swedish rallycross team JC Raceteknik heads into the final round of the 2017 RallyX Nordic Championship at Strangnas this weekend targeting the championship title in both Supercar and Supercar Lites (September 23).
In the headline Supercar category, rising Norwegian star Thomas Bryntesson leads the series by 23 points over Oliver Solberg, son of triple FIA World Champion Petter Solberg. Bryntesson secured second overall with the squad in the FIA European Rallycross Championship in Riga, Latvia this weekend, in his maiden Supercar season, and is aiming to conclude his year in style.
Racing the pair of 600bhp Ford Fiesta Supercars, Bryntesson and his JC Raceteknik team mate Ola Froshaug will contest their last event of the year targeting the title for Bryntesson and another final appearance for Froshaug, who currently lies fifth in the standings in his first term in rallycross’ top category.
In the single-make Supercar Lites support category, 17-year old Swede William Nilsson is second in the standings, just four points behind leader Simon Olofsson. Having claimed his maiden victory in the category earlier this season, and displayed front-running pace in the penultimate round at Kinnekulle last time out, former JRX driver Nilsson is targeting championship glory.
In his first year in the series, Henrik M.Krogstad is third overall and is aiming to at least maintain that position in the final round, while also seeking his first victory. That ambition is shared by RX Lites event-winner Sondre Evjen. The Norwegian has had an up-and-down season of results in 2017 but has proven good pace throughout and is also hoping to end his domestic season on the highest note possible at Strangnas, where the team has good experience from testing.
For Nilsson and Evjen, Strangnas will be the penultimate round their year, the final round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship support series, RX2, takes place in South Africa in November (11 – 12).
Joel Christoffersson, Team Principal :
"We have been strong all year and we know we can be the same at Strangnas, like most of the teams are in RallyX Nordic. We go there with good confidence, we know what we can do and we know we have the pace. Thomas and William are fighting to win the titles in Supercar and Supercar Lites, and we are also aiming to have two drivers on the podium in Supercar Lites. In our first year in Supercar, I definitely could not have believed that it would be so good. Before the season we set the goal of fighting for podiums and the top three in all championships we entered, so Supercar has gone really well. The whole team has worked really hard for this, we finished second in the European Championship last weekend and now we want to win RallyX Nordic too.”
Supercar: Thomas Bryntesson (NOR)
"The goal is absolutely to try to win the RallyX Nordic title. I always want to get to the podium in every race, but ultimately it's the championship I'm driving for this weekend. Everything should be fine and 23 points is a good lead, but in motorsport, anything can happen. The championship is not won until it’s won. Of course I had dreamt that this is how it would be this season, but I didn’t know if it would actually be possible. I think it’s been so good because I'm surrounded by a good team, good sponsors and so many supportive people. Then I'm always craving the best results possible, and that ambition makes it possible for you to succeed.”
Supercar: Ola Froshaug (NOR) :
"Being fifth in the Championship is a good feeling. It's my debut season in Supercar and I am achieving my targets. The aim was to be in the final in every competition and I have managed to do that, so the feeling for Strangnas is good. It's a circuit we have tested at many times, and I like it. The goal for the event is the same as always – to qualify for the semis and then hopefully also the final.”
Supercar Lites: William Nilsson (SWE) :
“It's always nice to lead, but chasing is a situation I like even better. You do not have the same pressure; I feel no pressure at all but know I'm fast and will give Simon a tough fight. Then afterwards you can see if it has been enough. In short, I will not save anything – I'm going to go hard for the championship title.”
Supercar Lites: Sondre Evjen (NOR) :
“I want to fight for the victory, I like the track a lot. I was fourth there last year so I’m hoping to improve this year. My season started good, I had two second places in the first two races, but I got what I think what I think was an unfair black flag at the race in Solvalla, which ruined the whole championship for me. We’ll fight back, we plan to continue next year so we’re targeting a race win and to take positives from the race like always”
Supercar Lites: Henrik M Krogstad (NOR) :
“We’ve put a difficult race in Kinnekulle behind us and we’re really motivated to try and win the last race, to end the season on a high. The people that get remembered are the ones that win the series and the ones that win the last race, so we want to do one of those. We’re working hard to move up to RX2 for next year. We wanted to do that this year but we couldn’t get the budget, but with the experience we have gained this year hopefully we can drive more than just the five RallyX Nordic races in 2018.”
RallyX Nordic Championship, Supercar Points:
1 Thomas Bryntesson (NOR) 134
2 Oliver Solberg (LAT) 111
3 Alexander Hvaal (NOR) 96
4 Peter Hedstrom (SWE) 91
5 Ola Froshaug (NOR) 75
6 Mats Ohman (SWE) 72
RallyX Nordic Championship, Supercar Lites Points:
1 Simon Olofsson (SWE) 101
2 William Nilsson (SWE) 97
3 Henrik Krogstad (NOR) 83
4 Viktor Johansson (SWE) 66
5 Vasiliy Gryazin (RUS) 63
6 Sondre Evjen (NOR) 56
