Johan and Petter dominate #CanadaRX

Next up is the World RX of France starting on the 1st of September. This gives the crews a much needed four week breather to head home from Canada, regroup, and prepare for one of the championship’s biggest rounds at the infamous Lohéac circuit. Full results from the 2017 World RX of Canada are available, here. 

“What can you say? It’s incredible. What a brilliant result. Yesterday was quite tough with the conditions, but that’s when this team really pulled together and came through. I really wanted this one. The atmosphere is so cool out here in Canada and it’s always a great race. Everything went to plan this time. Once again, it was crucial that Petter and I went into the semi-finals in first and second so we could capitalise and try to get first and second on the grid in the final. It all worked. It was perfect. I owe a huge thanks to the team and to Petter for this weekend. We fly home a very happy team!”

“You can imagine the emotion is quite high from this race. Last year wasn’t so good and this time I wanted to come here and forget about that, I wanted to take that pain away. Johan and the whole PSRX Volkswagen Sweden couldn’t have given me a better fix from last year. I know I say this a lot, but really, this team is unbelievable. What we achieve is incredible and it makes me so proud. It’s time for a good celebration here in Canada and then we go home and we get back to it. The rest of these guys are not standing still. We see the competition is tough all the time and we have to keep moving forward. The next round in France is going to be an incredible race. We saw Séb [Loeb] was third here and he’s going to be so dangerous in front of his home fans next time out. But for now, let’s enjoy this one!”

“The car has been constantly improving, and I’ve had some very good lap times this weekend. Unfortunately in the last qualifier I had a little impact with one of the Audis going into to turn one, which broke something in the front end of my car. But still to get eighth overall going into the semis was great. It was just bad luck for Andreas not to be in the finals too. Unfortunately with the weather we’ve had – the rain at the beginning of the qualifiers; the track has been drying out constantly, and he was in the early races for each of the qualifiers. So where the track has dried out and the times have got quicker in the later races, it went against him. I’m really disappointed for him – he’s been very quick this year so far though. Overall it’s been a really improved season so far though; the team have been working really had to bring the car up to where it needs to be. We’ve still got a little way to go, but I’m very happy to be getting better and better results.”

“Fighting back from a bad day one is never impossible, but this time we didn’t make it! The drying conditions, and driving in traffic was challenging, but I ended just outside the safe semi-final zone in P13. I broke a driveshaft and spun around on lap one of my Q2 heat race, and I just seemed to be chasing my whole weekend from there. I finished 12^th and 6^th in Q3 and Q4, which wasn’t great, and then I was the first reserve for the semis. I ended up just being a spectator in the grandstands. It feels really disappointing to miss out; but that just makes it feel better when we win next time!”

“It was a really interesting weekend – clearly not as easy as expected. The RX2 cars as completely different to drive. I wasn’t 100% confident with the gearbox and the grip levels at the rear of the car but as the weekend continued my confidence grew and by the end my pace was a lot better. I had some bad luck on every run. Yesterday someone hit my car and that stopped me finishing in a good position. On day two I got a bad start, and got stuck in mid-pack traffic. The speed in Q4 was ok per lap. I made a couple of small mistakes. Despite all that I am super happy because it’s been great experience to learn a new car and track. Driving the RX2 cars means you have to make as much use of the power available as possible – be super tight and clean with your racing lines. It’s definitely taught me things for when I get back in my Supercar!”