Oliver Solberg has moved into the lead of the RallyX Nordic standings after claiming dominant clean sweep victory in Grenland, as main rival Thomas Bryntesson failed to progress to the finals.
The OSRX driver was in stunning form throughout the day, claiming comfortable wins in all three heats and his semi-final before proving similarly untouchable come the final.
The fourth win of his short RallyX Nordic career, the clean sweep nonetheless signals another landmark achievement for the 16-year old as he heads into the summer break with the advantage in the standings too.
His success came at the expense of Bryntesson, who endured a day to forget despite matching Solberg for pace in the qualifying heats. However, the JC Raceteknik was out of luck when he broke his suspension on a bump coming through the joker during his semi-final, forcing him to park up and retire.
Bryntesson’s early exit, coupled to rival’s maximum points’ haul, lifts Solberg to the head of the RallyX Nordic standings on 75 points, four ahead of Bryntesson.
Behind Solberg, Oliver Eriksson secured his first podium of the season in the Olsbergs MSE Ford Fiesta. The Swede recovered from a broken turbo early in the day to win his semi-final and prove the closest rival to Solberg in the final, Eriksson crossing the line two seconds adrift.
Completing the podium, Daniel Thoren produced a fine performance in the Hedstroms Motorsport Volkswagen Polo after winning his race-long battle with Andreas Carlsson. Despite just missing out on the rostrum, AC RX Renault Clio driver was – like Thoren – starring in his first final of the season to give the pair a boost in the overall standings.
Ola Froshaug ran third until the final lap only to break his Fiesta’s suspension coming into the opening bend, the Norwegian slipping down to fifth position as a result.
Peter Hedstrom was eliminated from contention at the first corner after contact ricocheted him into the outside bank. It is the third event in a row the Swede has been involved in an incident in the final to leave him down the order.
Behind Solberg and Bryntesson, Eriksson rises to third in the standings – 15 points off the lead – with Hedstrom and Froshaug completing the top five.
2018 RallyX Nordic FINAL // Round 3 // Grenland
| 1 | Oliver Solberg | OSRX | Citroen DS3 | 5 laps |
| 2 | Oliver Eriksson | Olsbergs MSE | Ford Fiesta | +2.004s |
| 3 | Daniel Thoren | Hedstroms Motorsport | Volkswagen Polo | +15.638s |
| 4 | Andreas Carlsson | AC RX | Renault Clio | +15.964 |
| 5 | Ola Froshaug | JC Raceteknik | Ford Fiesta | +1 lap |
| 6 | Peter Hedstrom | Hedstroms Motorsport | Volkswagen Polo | +1 lap |
In Supercar Lites, Guillaume De Ridder notched up a hat-trick with his third victory of the season in the Olsbergs MSE machine. For the second race in succession, the Belgian faced a tough challenge from Ben-Philip Gundersen as the Norwegian chased victory on home soil but De Ridder would control the lead from the first corner and secure a comfortable win.
Vasiliy Gryazin picked up his first podium finish of the season in the SRT machine, ahead of Linus Ostlund, Simon Olofsson and William Nilsson.
Local favourite Sondre Evjen had looked to have the measure of De Ridder after claiming Intermediate Classification honours, only to make a mistake in his semi-final and fail to progress further.
In the overall standings, De Ridder has a 32 point lead over the opposition with three rounds remaining.
