KMS boss: It felt like someone stole our candy!
Kristoffersson Motorsport duo Ole Christian Veiby and Johan Kristoffersson were left to lament a missed opportunity at Mondello Park last weekend (18-19 July), with Team Principal Tommy Kristoffersson saying the result ‘felt like someone popped up and stole the candy from us’.
The Volkswagen Polo 601 RX1 was unquestionably the class of the field on the FIA European Rallycross Championship’s Irish return following a three-decade absence from the ‘Emerald Isle’, but after winning Q1, a collision with Juha Rytkönen in Q2 earned Kristoffersson a black flag penalty for the second event in a row.
That left the Swede down in 13th position in the 25-strong Euro RX1 field, thrusting Veiby into the spotlight as the overnight pace-setter endeavoured to uphold honours for the Arvika-based outfit.
A clean sweep of Q3 and Q4 the next day enabled a fired-up Kristoffersson to work his way back to fourth in the intermediate ranking, with Veiby narrowly missing out on Top Qualifier status. Both drivers duly secured a Quarter-Final pole position – going on to dominate their respective races to line up alongside one another on the grid for the second Semi-Final.
There, the pair engaged in a crowd-pleasing battle in which the Norwegian narrowly prevailed, as they left their pursuers trailing almost ten seconds in their wake around the challenging County Kildare circuit. That put them respectively second and fourth on the grid for the all-important Final, in which Veiby hunted down countryman Andreas Bakkerud in the lead prior to diving into the joker on lap two.
Kristoffersson conversely lost out in the opening exchanges, finding himself bundled down to fifth, but after rapidly relieving Rytkönen of fourth, jokers by Veiby and Joni Turpeinen elevated the eight-time World Champion to second, as he emulated his team-mate in applying the pressure on arch-rival Bakkerud.
One way or another, a Kristoffersson Motorsport victory looked to be on the cards as Kristoffersson – despite grappling with bent steering from the first lap fracas – relentlessly hassled the Ford Fiesta driver ahead. When he exited the joker on the penultimate tour, however, he did so alongside the sister Polo, and the KMS stablemates proceeded to duel doorhandle-to-doorhandle through the following sequence of turns – slowing each other down in the process.
Their internecine scrap played perfectly into the hands of Bakkerud, gifting the Bergen Motorsport Evolution ace the margin he needed to remain in front – to Veiby’s visible frustration.
“It was my worst second place ever, because I felt like the win was within reach,” the Kongsvinger native bluntly reflected. “I struggled a lot with the tyres and massive understeer in the Final; that hadn’t been the case in the Semi-Final, which was a really fun race with Johan. I think we both enjoyed that battle – at the end of the day, pushing each other is how you learn and get better. Second place in the Final was good points, but it still felt disappointing, I have to say.”
“To come from a black flag on the Saturday and fifth place exiting Turn Two in the Final to challenge for the win – even though we didn’t ultimately get it – made for a pretty good weekend,” mused a more philosophical Kristoffersson. “The black flag in Q2 made things a little bit trickier, and it was my own fault, but we had great speed throughout the weekend, which helped us to get back into it.
“That was promising, as were the much better launches, and I really enjoyed the great battle with Ole Christian in the Semi-Final. Maybe we opened the door for Andreas in the Final, which was obviously not ideal for either of us, but everyone is fighting for their own position – that’s rallycross, just tight racing.
“All things considered, we still scored quite good points and the championship looks pretty interesting. We continue to improve and we’ll keep on pushing. Congratulations to Andreas, but we will fight another day!”
His third podium finish from four outings in 2026 means the 37-year-old will head into the penultimate outing of the campaign – at Lohéac in France on 29-30 August – in possession of a seven-point advantage over Bakkerud at the summit of the standings, with Veiby eight points further back in third, setting the scene for a sensational three-way title tussle.
Describing the Breton track as similar in nature to Mondello, Kristoffersson revealed that he had ‘managed to hold back quite a few tyres’ for one of the series’ most abrasive circuits – while joking that he will ‘try to stay away from black flags there and not make life so difficult for myself!’
Kristoffersson Snr, meanwhile, acknowledged that the squad’s Irish jaunt had not been as successful as hoped, with the fallout from the internal fight leaving a slightly bitter taste at the end of the event.
“Considering we were so superior in pace all weekend, it felt like someone popped up and stole the candy from us,” shrugged the three-time Swedish Rallycross Champion. “But we couldn’t have done it any other way...”
