PSRX Volkswagen dominates with one-two at World RX of Great Britain
Monday 29th May 2017
Every now and then a team turns in a performance to transcend the sport itself. To do that, requires perfection across the board and commitment above and beyond anything previously seen. That was PSRX Volkswagen World RX Team Sweden at World RX of Great Britain this weekend.
Petter Solberg won the fifth round with the sister Polo GTI Supercar of team-mate Johan Kristoffersson second.
Solberg’s team created the perfect storm. And an even better story.
From the moment Petter blew last year’s lap record apart in free practice, the double FIA World Rallycross Champion didn’t put a foot wrong or a wheel wide. He was perfect. Fastest everywhere and, joker laps aside, iced the cake with a lights to flag final win.
Brilliant. Brilliant-squared with Johan’s second place lifting him to the championship lead. The Torsby squad’s first one-two of the season opens PSRX Volkswagen’s gap to 70 points in the teams’ championship – and follows hot on the heels of a double podium last time out in Belgium.
“You know I’m quite an emotional guy,” said Petter, “but this is really something special. To see all of these people here at this fantastic track is so amazing and then for the team to go so well in front of them is unbelievable.
“You know, we started this adventure in January and look where we are? I think this one really is unbelievable. I talk a lot about the team and the team performance, but that’s absolutely the way we work at PSRX Volkswagen Sweden. Every single person in the team – and I mean everybody – puts 100 per cent into what we do. But recently, we’ve been putting 110 per cent in and we’ve been getting the results.
“This is the 50th anniversary of rallycross. Fifty years! And we have won this anniversary race, how incredible is that, that’s a really, really nice feeling.
“And, with the move to Silverstone next year, this will be the last time the World Rallycross Championship will be here at Lydden for a while, so to win this race is fantastic for me.
“It’s been a while since I was on the top step of the podium, so to be back here is such an incredible feeling. And to have Johan right there with me makes it perfect. We have made the fantastic weekend this time, everything went the way we wanted it to – and when we got out of the car the sun was shining. It’s a beautiful day.”
Championship leader Johan wasn’t about to argue with any of that.
“This result really is for the team,” says the superstar Swede. “I still can’t believe what we have achieved in just a matter of a few months – and still the car is getting better and quicker. This team just never stops working and Petter and I are the ones who get the chance to show off what the team can do. That’s a real honour and a real privilege. But today, like the last time in Belgium, we were able to give something back to everybody in the team.
“This one-two is the perfect way to say ‘thank you’ to everybody in PSRX Volkswagen Sweden for all the hard work.
“It’s also quite an emotional win for the team. Rallycross is a very, very big part of my life and to score such a result on a weekend when we celebrate 50 years of this incredible sport is something which makes me and the whole team very proud.”
Result:
1 Petter Solberg 4m09.602s
2 Johan Kristoffersson 4m11.292s
3 Andreas Bakkerud 4m12.919s
4 Sébastien Loeb 4m16.332s
5 Mattias Ekström 4m23.758s
6 Timmy Hansen 5m07.622s
Drivers’ championship positions:
1 Kristoffersson 124pts
2 Ekström 120pts
3 Solberg 117pts
4 Hansen 91pts
5 Loeb 81pts
6 Bakkerud 73pts
Teams’ championship positions:
1 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden 241pts
2 Team Peugeot-Hansen 172pts
3 EKS 166pts