Bryntesson and JC Raceteknik claim first Euro RX Supercar win in France
Rising rallycross star Thomas Bryntesson claimed his and the JC Raceteknik team’s first ever FIA European Rallycross Supercar Championship victory in the fourth round of the series at Loheac in France, in challenging wet conditions (September 3).
By taking a near-perfect points haul from the French event, in front of 75,000 spectators, Bryntesson moves to second in the Euro RX Supercar Championship standings with one round of the five-event series left to go in Latvia, in two weeks’ time.
The Norwegian ace finished top of the Intermediate Classification at Loheac, consistently running at the front of the 35-car field to secure top spot, before finishing second in semi-final one. In the final, Bryntesson moved to second at the first corner and then seized the lead at the hairpin. From there, he never looked back on his way to a maiden Euro RX Supercar win.
Ola Froshaug struggled in the challenging conditions, the warm dry track from day one changing for a wet and slippery surface on day two. He set a best time of 10th fastest in Q3 and scored a Championship point by concluding the event 16th.
In an impressive first season of rallycross competition, Belgian driver Guillaume De Ridder finished second for the third event in a row in the RX2 International Series. Second in the Intermediate Classification, De Ridder won semi-final two and pushed race winner Cyril Raymond hard throughout the final, narrowly missing out on race victory to the series’ newly crowned champion.
Swede William Nilsson qualified fourth in the Intermediate Classification, despite not taking his joker lap in Q3 and being handed a 30-second penalty. Using experienced gained in his first full season of RX2, Nilsson took the lead on the first lap of semi-final two but spun his car at the end of the lap and was hit by another driver, putting him out. Sondre Evjen also made it into the semi-finals, but suffered a puncture which ended his chances of making the final.
JC Raceteknik heads straight back to Sweden for the fifth round of the RallyX Nordic series at the Kinnekulle Ring (September 9), where Bryntesson and Nilsson will defend the points’ lead in Supercar and Supercar Lites respectively.
Joel Christoffersson, Team Principal :
“I’m so happy for Thomas, to get his first European win at one of the biggest events of the season is amazing, and for the whole team to win in Supercar in the European Rallycross Championship is another dream for us. We’re very happy with the speed we have, we’ve improved a lot in the wet. Drivers like Anton Marklund have been here for many years and raced in Loheac many times, so we are very happy with where we are right now. Ola had never driven here before and he struggles a little with challenging new tracks, especially like the one in France, but he drove well and was unlucky I think not to finish higher.
Guillaume was very impressive again. It’s his first year, he’s not done many rallycross races and I think he is really the guy who can beat Cyril (Raymond) now. We need to get him to Cape Town, because I really think he can win there. It was quite a tough weekend for everyone, Sondre had a good drive in the semi-finals but the puncture destroyed his chances. William made a good start but made a small mistake. He will fight back next weekend I’m sure.”
Euro RX Supercar: Thomas Bryntesson (NOR) :
“For sure this is the best result of my career, it’s the first year in Supercar for me, we have improved with every race and now finally we are on the top so it feels amazing. I struggled a bit to find the speed in the rain, but in the semi-final and final everything worked really well. Everything can happen in Latvia, we’ll try to secure second place. I’m really confident with the team, we worked really well today.”
Euro RX Supercar: Ola Froshaug (NOR) :
“It’s been a difficult weekend for me, I’m 52 years old, so it takes me a bit of a longer time to learn the tracks. This is a very huge event, I really like the track but it was inconsistent; wet and dry the whole time so it was difficult to find a rhythm. There were many good French drivers here too. It’s amazing to share Thomas’ victory with him and tonight we will really celebrate.”
RX2: Sondre Evjen (NOR) :
"I was happy with my pace all weekend. However, I made some bad starts and got stuck in traffic in turn one, which caused me to either get stuck in the queue of cars or got damage. In the semi-final, I pushed hard but unfortunately I got a puncture and missed the final. The atmosphere has been amazing and I look forward to coming back next year.”
RX2: William Nilsson (SWE) :
"I feel terrible. I fought at the top for the whole event, led the semi-final and really felt I was aiming for the podium. Instead, I spun on the first lap and then got hit. What can you do? It’s been a great event and a great atmosphere. I got a penalty in Q4 for forgetting to take the joker, but still was fourth in the Intermediate Classification. I’m very happy with that.”
RX2: Guillaume De-Ridder (BEL) :
“I just focused on my own race this weekend, the conditions were really difficult. I did everything I could in the final to try and get first place, but overall it’s been a really good weekend for us. We are still third in the points but closer to Dan (Rooke) than previously and we also increased the margin to the fourth place driver. This season was just to learn at the beginning, but it has gone really well. The plan was just to do the European races in RX2, but we went to Canada and we will work hard to go to the final round in South Africa to fight for second in the championship.”
You find photos from the event here!
FIA European Rallycross Championship, Loheac, France Result:
1 Thomas Bryntesson (NOR)
2 Tamas Pal Kiss (HUN)
3 Firmin Cadeddu (FRA)
4 Anton Marklund (SWE)
5 Derek Tohill (IRL)
6 Tommy Rustad (NOR)
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16 Ola Froshaug (NOR)
FIA European Rallycross Championship Points:
1 Anton Marklund (SWE) 99
2 Thomas Bryntesson (NOR) 81
3 Tommy Rustad (NOR) 70
4 Robin Larsson (SWE) 65
5 Tamas Pal Kiss (HUN) 65
6 Alexander Hvaal (NOR) 62
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10 Ola Froshaug (NOR) 30
RX2 International Series, Loheac, France Result:
1 Cyril Raymond (FRA)
2 Guillaume De-Ridder (BEL)
3 Vasily Gryazin (RUS)
4 Simon-Wago Syversen (NOR)
5 Anders Michalak (SWE)
6 Thomas Holmen (NOR)
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7 William Nilsson (SWE)
11 Sondre Evjen (NOR)
RX2 International Series standings:
1 Cyril Raymond (FRA) 168
2 Dan Rooke (GBR) 137
3 Guillaume De-Ridder (BEL) 115
4 William Nilsson (SWE) 89
5 Tanner Whitten (USA) 85
6 Simon Olofsson (SWE) 85
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9 Sondre Evjen (NOR) 69
