Johan and Andreas, Going The Distance

As the Summer begins to wane, so does the campaigns of one of northern Europe's premier racing activities. It isn't just IndyCar that exits the scene come September, it's rallycross too; though not for reasons related to the National Football League. The season turns fast in Scandinavia and the northern European countries that dominate the scene, but the more compact racing season does mean that there's no rest for the weary or the wicked.

It was a little over a month ago that an unlikely convergence happened at Mondello Park: two of the best racing drivers in the world descended upon Ireland's first appearance on the FIA European Rallycross Championship calendar in thirty years. The first shines the brightest in the world of drifting as a part of a golden generation of drifters coming from the Emerald Isle: being James Deane. He would be taking part in the Irish open two wheel drive support category as a total rookie, though it was clear his absurd raw talent that got him his five Formula Drift and three Drift Masters championships translated to mixed surface, elbows up track racing. He remains one of the, if not the best drift driver on the planet; capable of going far beyond what most of his peers are capable of in tandem battles and making it look easy in the process.

That last intangible is something he shares with the titan of modern rallycross who, for the first time in more than a decade, has a real fight on his hands.

Johan Kristoffersson is a rallycross god. Nearly fifty event victories across his eight world championships as the 2010s blended into the 2020s feels impossible to wrap one's head around, especially in the context of the discipline Johan has conquered. It's a gauntlet to make it to the finals, before even having a good chance to win in that final by being near the front on it's staggered grid. You are at the mercy of your rivals during the qualifying races, as well as the quarter and semi-finals but Johan made all of that look easy. He controlled race weekends from the onset and used his massive pace to get ahead of potential chaos, or to minimize damage if he didn't get the holeshot. If he didn't lead off the start in a final, he was able keep glued to the back of the cars ahead and would overhaul them in the one lap offset after taking the mandatory Joker Lap early with the most absurd maximum attack pace that simply no one could counter. There has been simply no answer for the pace Johan Kristoffersson has in the bank compared to the rest of the field: it's Hammertime, but he does it in one lap while Lewis Hamilton has multiple to make a strategy work to win a race.

It's been the story within the last decade of World Rallycross: how can we stop that kind of pace and performance from someone delivering at the peak of their powers and with the best equipment possible? Even as the quantity of competitors waned with the change of promoter, the objective didn't change and those who took on the call to challenge Johan, namely The Hansen Brothers, Niclas Grönholm and Juha Rytkönen, couldn't take down someone cementing themselves as one of the best racing drivers in the world.

That question remained as we entered 2026, as the World Championship took a pause and the European Championship went firmly into the spotlight.

With the announcement that he, and teammate Ole Christian Veiby, would be partaking in the European championship it was clear who the pre-season favorites are. The question that remained was who would be the ones that would step up and bring the fight to a driver that is now looking to add a European title to his resume. How were they going to deal with a driver that, at times this season, has been nearly a second per lap faster than the field in free practice?

That allure of the hunt with a packed field chasing Johan has had me tuning into the European Rallycross Championship more than any other racing series this year. A central story for an entire season to be built around, paired with underdogs and unsung heroes fighting for survival to make the quarter-finals and beyond has scratched that itch I have when it comes to watching a major racing series. I need a draw beyond the raw act and spectacle of a race when it comes to the major series; I need theater, I need a narrative, I need a story. But for my interest to be sustained, someone needed to step up to the challenge and bring the fight; and that didn't go off to the best start.

Johan Kristoffersson had his way with a packed Euro RX1 field in the season opener in Biķernieki, Latvia. His teammate in OC Vieby played back-gunner when it was required, and the field just never put the pressure on when it was required. It was like watching one of the other undisputed best racing drivers in the world in Alex Palou crush any hope that things would be different, and that the writing was already on the wall. It wouldn't be different for Palou's rivals, as he further cemented his place as the best in the world with another Astor Cup to his name, seemingly already out of reach come the summer. But things would be different across the Atlantic as the scene headed to Hungary, and the field started to understand the depth of the task at hand.

Taking up the bulk of the challenge to the drivers from Kristoffersson Motorsports was a trio of drivers running out of the SET Promotion camp: Andreas Bakkerud, Joni Turpeinen and the returning Juha Rytkönen. Andreas is a former European Champion himself and was runner-up, under controversial circumstances, in the one season Johan didn't compete in recent times at the World Championship level. Joni is a part of a new wave of rallycross drivers and showed insane pace in the European Championship last year, though it was clear he was still raw at the supercar level having made the jump up as a teenager. Juha was clearly outgunned in the prior year's World Championship as a single car entry: but a year of experience, added development to his Hyundai i20 and two teammates to work with would go a long way the year after.

I'm inclined to believe the three weeks between Latvia and Hungary that the brain trust at SET got to grips with the task at hand, and the drivers figured out that if they wanted a chance to take down the best that they had to be deliberate with their actions at the start of races. They had to make Johan's life hell, and that's what they did at The Red Cauldron of Nyirád. Andreas was the top qualifier heading into the knockout stage having won two of the four qualifying sessions with Johan in second. They would share the front row in the final with the Ford Fiesta of Bakkerud on the inside with the preferred approach into turn one. The pair were even out of the starting blocks before Andreas moved over to be on Johan's door, Bakkerud then sent it to the apex at turn one, opening the door for the second row starters to get alongside Johan. Kristoffersson was put into the loose gravel having showed respect to those to his inside, but it meant he got a one-way ticket into the tire barrier. To the inside of Johan in that moment? Joni Turpeinen and Juha Rytkönen. SET Promotions locked out the podium, Andreas took the points lead by one point, and I was locked in for the rest of the European Rallycross season.

It's a showdown that feels years in the making: to finally see a genuine fight and threat to Johan Kristoffersson's dominance in the world of rallycross come to fruition after Nyirád and through the rest of the season. Johan would retake a nineteen point championship lead coming out of The Magic Weekend in Hojles after Andreas would hit his own troubles in the final, but the chase was on. A nineteen point difference turned to seven after Bakkerud's victory in Ireland, before turning into a one point lead in the championship with his second place and Kristoffersson finishing fourth in Loheac. Andreas clawing back that defect, getting by with a little help from his friends, with now one weekend to go is an incredible feat after a decade that has been defined by his Swedish rival.

The 2026 FIA European Rallycross Championship could have been a wash in the weekends after Hojles, resulting in an incredible legacy cemented in a discipline that was left for dead a couple years ago in the eyes of the viewing public. But rallycross at it's highest level never died, it just needed to remember what it was suppose to be: it was suppose to be a fight. It's suppose to be a thirteen round heavyweight fight decided in the dying moments of every event, and ideally it's championship too if it wants to scratch that itch I have when I watch racing.

And the number one pound for pound rallycross driver in the world is in a fight that's going the distance; but if you come at the god, you best not miss.