Finnish driver Niclas Grönholm claimed his first-ever international rallycross title by securing the 2022 RallyX crown in the final round of the campaign at Strängnäs in Sweden.
Grönholm entered the finale tied on points at the top of the standings, but in mixed weather conditions throughout the opening day of the single-header event, Grönholm was the class of the Supercar field.
With the venue dried out for Sunday’s final day of the seven-round season, Grönholm secured the Top Qualifier position, and by winning his semi-final to make it through to the final, claimed the 2022 title. But, without an event win to his credit in the opening six rounds, and in a bid to repay the work of the GRX team who repaired the Hyundai i20 after a crash during the final at round five in Latvia, Grönholm pushed hard throughout the final to claim victory and wrap up his season in style.
Norwegian Sondre Evjen, driving for the JC Raceteknik team, shadowed Grönholm throughout the final and finished second, his fourth podium of the campaign placing him third in the standings, just a point behind Thomas Bryntesson, who finished third in the season finale.
Yellow Squad driver Yury Belevskiy was classified fourth, with JC’s Philip Gehrman in fifth. The third JC driver in the final, Ole Christian Veiby, finished fourth on track but was disqualified from the final for an incident at the joker merge.
Belgian driver Viktor Vrankx just missed out on a place in the final with his all-electric RX2e car.
Supercar Lites
One of the most experienced drivers in the 10-year history of the Supercar Lites category, Simon Olofsson, secured victory in the final round of the RallyX season, his fourth win of the year, and with it the 2022 championship title. Olofsson claimed a maximum points’ haul from qualifying, the semi-finals and the final to win the title in style, while OlsbergsMSE driver Ole Henry Steinsholt finished second in the final to secure the same place in the points’ positions. Martin Enlund battled back from a penalty in Q4 to finish on the podium, despite feeling unwell throughout the final day of the season, while Martin Jonsson was the last of the final finishers, in fourth. Oliver Eriksson retired from victory contention with a puncture on lap two, while Casper Jansson was forced out with broken suspension on the opening lap.
Crosscar
Hallberg Motorsport enjoyed a successful weekend in the final round of the RallyX Crosscar season for 2022, with Patrik Hallberg securing victory in a hard-fought final battle with Thomas Murstad, the pair exchanging the lead on track with a number of exquisite overtakes, Hallberg eventually coming out on top. It was however Oskar Andersson who claimed the Crosscar title thanks to a strong qualifying performance, then finishing second in his semi-final to secure a second row start for the final. It was a five-car only final for the Crosscar category, as semi-final two winner Elias Svensson, who had crossed the finish line with smoke pouring from his car’s engine, was unable to take the start of the final with technical issues.
Crosscar Junior
Reigning Crosscar Junior Champion Lukas Andersson secured his first win of the 2022 RallyX season in the final round, but Finnish rising star Mikael Uitto did enough during qualifying to secure the RallyX crown for Junior drivers – one of the most competitive rallycross series in the world. Andersson’s win lifted him to second in the standings, tied on points with Finn Lauri Halonen, who finished the last final of the year in second position. Karl Peder Nordstrand, Joonatan Ylilammi and Dennis Vik completed the list of final finishers.
Open 2WD
Viktor Johansson entered the final round of the Open 2WD season with the points advantage and wrapped the title up with a strong run through qualifying with his self-developed hybrid-powered Mercedes 190e. He then led the final until the very final meters, but with his car’s internal combustion engine having developed a problem on the final lap, he lost out in a race to the line to out-going champion Simon Tiger, who claimed a maiden win of the 22 campaign with his wankel-powered BMW M3. Making his first start of the season, Michael Olander made it an all-Swedish podium with his Toyota Corolla.
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