2010 Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Sweden Champions Jimmy Joge and co-driver John Stigh won round one of the series on last weekend’s Rally Sweden. They overhauled 2009 Champions Jocke Nyman/Bo Holmstrand during the second day, crossing the line to win by seven seconds. Patrik and Jesper Johansson made up for lost time on day two, following their first-day brake problems, and did well to finish third.
With Rally Sweden hosting the first round of the World Rally Championship, the event provides a spectacular start to the Evolution Challenge and Swedish Rally Championship season, the two domestic series’ featuring eight of the 16 stages used in the International event. For the Mitsubishi and Swedish Championships, the action began on Friday morning and saw Nyman/Holmstrand get to grips with the slippery conditions to lead the Evolution Challenge field. In fact, their pace was so good they set a time that would have put them seventh overall in the WRC event!
Joge/Stigh were second of the Mitsubishi crews by just 2.5 seconds, with Ramona Karlsson and Miriam Walfridsson an impressive third a further 7.6 seconds behind. However for series newcomers, Mikael Gustafsson/Joakim Gevert, the first stage was not so successful, when an argument with a snow bank was enough to force them into an early retirement.
It was Joge/Stigh’s turn to take the lead on the second stage of the day, when Nyman/Holmstrand were held up behind a slower car, their delay seeing Karlsson/Walfridsson move closer to the leading pair. Usually challenging for the first place, Johansson/Johansson were frustrated to lose time when one of their car’s front brakes was damaged half-way though SS2, which meant that the only way to slow down for the remainder of the stage was by using the handbrake!
A perfect run through the third and final stage of the day for Nyman/Holmstrand meant that they returned to the Hagfors service area back in the lead, this time by 9.1 seconds ahead of Joge/Stigh, who were suffering from a loss of power. The fault was later traced to a missing pressure pipe.
Karlsson/Walfridsson’s excellent run came to an end on SS3, when a they pulled over to let a following car past having collected a puncture and then got stuck at the side of the road. This elevated Johansson/Johansson to third, whilst Mats Thorszelius/Tomas Thorszelius moved up to fourth.
Driving their brand new Evolution X, Cemoni Ohlson/Göran Lönnmark had their day brought to an abrupt end, when their car landed heavily after a jump and the sump was too badly damaged to continue. Another pair of Evo Challenge debutants to retire on the stage were Johan Rudengren/Christer Joahnsson, when their car’s turbo decided to stop working.
It was also the end of the road for regular Evo Challenge crew Markus Hällbo/Lars Gustafsson, who collected a, puncture and consequently lost so much time, they decided to call it a day. Another familiar crew, Joachim Carlström/Jörgen Norman also had problems, when they became firmly stuck in a snow bank on SS3, but managed to get going again after losing a lot of time.
The second day comprised four stages in the forests around Hagfors, with a final spectator stage in an arena just outside Karlstad. Positions for the leading crews remained the same through the first stage of the day, but for Kristian Johansson/Frdrik Livh, who were making their Evo Challenge debut, their rally finally came to and end. After getting stuck in a snow bank on SS2, the extraction process had damaged the clutch and it finally expired on Saturday morning.
Other retirements on day-two were Thorszelius/Thorszelius, when a broken drive-shaft brought their good run to a conclusion on SS5. Also, Karlsson/Walfridsson, who had re-started on day-two running under SuperRally rules, had more bad luck when their car’s exhaust manifold broke on SS6. A disappointing end to what had started so well for the high-profile crew.
On the second of Saturday’s stages it became clear that Joge/Stigh were going quicker now their car’s engine was 100% and, on the next stage they brought the gap between themselves and Nyman/Homstrand down to only 0.7 second. Then, on the last of the forest stages, they took the lead, which meant they lined up for the start of the Super-Special stage in Karlstad with a 9.3 second advantage, Nyman frustrated that he had dropped so much time during the course of the day.
Johansson/Johansson had also been making up ground and had now closed the gap to 10.9 seconds, which made it a three-way battle with just the Super-special to go. But, with the stage less than two kilometres long, unless one of the leading crews hit problems, there was unlikely to be a change of position and therefore, Joge/Stigh went on to become the first Evolution Challenge winners in 2011.
“As this is the first rally for my new Evo X I wasn’t sure how things would go, so I’m very pleased that we are first Mitsubishi this weekend”, said Joge. “When we had the problems at the end of Friday I didn’t think we would be able to continue, so to get this result is a great start to the season for the whole team, who have worked so hard to get the car ready for this event.”
Nyman/Holmstrand’s reluctant second place saw them seven seconds down at the finish, with Johansson/Johansson 13 seconds further back.
Fourth eventually went to Anders Jonasson/Jörgen Lindhal, who were pleased with their weekend’s work, as were Jan-Erik Folkesson/Marie Andersson, who were happy to finish fifth in their first ever Evo Challenge event.
Sixth and seventh went to two more series newcomers: Daniel Johansson/Stefan Ahl and Jennie-Lee
Hermansson/Ola Persson, who had survived the shock of a broken brake disk on the final forest stage and did well to bring the car home in one piece. Eighth-placed Carlström/Norman were probably the least happy crew, as their delay on Friday had meant they started near the back of the field. This meant the stages were very rough, with the gravel coming through the ice in places.
And, as for Hans-Erik Weng/Henrik Hulterskog in ninth, it was also a frustrating rally. After a battle to get their brand new Evo X ready in time for the rally, they encountered a number of challenges during the course of the event and therefore were delighted to eventually make it to the finish.
The 2011 Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Sweden is supported by: Mitsubishi Motors Sweden, Pirelli tyres, Sunoco fuels, Öhlins suspension, Speedline Corse PPE wheels, Endless brake pads, Drenth Gearboxes, PIAA lights, Sparco racewear, MPart, RPM Promotions and Raceconsulting rally results service.
Evolution Challenge Sweden – Round 1 results:
1 Jimmy Joge (Tjällmo)/John Stigh (Skänninge) 1:22:35.3
2 Jocke Nyman (Östersund)/Bo Holmstrand (Herrljunga) 1:22:42.3
3 Patrik Johansson (Växjö)/Jesper Johansson (Ryd) 1:22:55.3
4 Anders Jonasson (Växjö)/Jörgen Lindahl (Ryd) 1:24:50.9
5 Jan-Erik Folkesson (Örebro)/Marie Andersson (Garphyttan) 1:25:12.4
6 Daniel Johansson (Stockholm)/Stefan Ahl 1:27:20.1
7 Jennie-Lee Hermansson (Dalarna)/Ola Persson (Uppsala) 1:28:58.1
8 Joachim Carlström (Rockneby)/Jörgen Norman (Torsås) 1:29:37.6
9 Hans-Erik Weng (Säffle)/Henrik Hulterskog (Stensjön) 1:32:18.1
Retired
SS6 Ramona Karlsson (Falköping)/Miriam Walfridsson (Torsby) – Exhaust manifold
SS5 Mats Thorszelius (Uppsala)/Tomas/Thorszelius (Uppsala) – Driveshaft
SS4 Kristian Johansson (Viskafors)/Fredrik Livh (Forserum) – Clutch
SS3 Markus Hällbo (Stora Skedvi)/Lars Gustafsson (Hofors) – Puncture
SS3 Johan Rudengren (Eskilstuna)/Christer Johansson – Turbo
SS3 Cemoni Ohlson (Österbymo)/Göran Lönnmark (Stjärnhov) – Heavy landing – sump
SS1 Mikael Gustafsson (Karlstad)/Joakim Gevert – Snow bank
Championship positions after Round One:
Drivers Standings:
1 Jimmy Joge 12
2 Jocke Nyman 10
3 Patrik Johansson 8
4 Anders Jonasson 7
5 Jan-Erik Folkesson 6
6 Daniel Johansson 5
7 Jennie-Lee Hermansson 4
8 Joachim Carlström 3
9 Hans-Erik Weng 2
Co-drivers Standings:
1 John Stigh 12
2 Bo Holmstrand 10
3 Jesper Johansson 8
4 Jörgen Lindahl 7
5 Marie Andersson 6
6 Stefan Ahl 5
7 Ola Persson 4
8 Jörgen Norman 3
9 Henrik Hulterskog 2
– Credit: www.rallybuzz.com