Jens Hvaal vant i sitt første løp i Supercars, da han deltok i Supercar AM-løpet på Grenland. Les mer i denne pressemeldingen på engelsk.
Rising Norwegian star Jens Hvaal claimed a debut Supercar victory in the penultimate round of the RallyX series at Grenland, Norway racing a JC Raceteknik Audi S1 Supercar in the Supercar AM category.
Having tested only once in a Supercar prior to the event, 19-year-old Hvaal stepped up to four-wheel-drive competition for the first time following a maiden Euro RX3 win on-track in Germany the previous weekend and stunned RallyX regulars on his Supercar debut.
Fifth fastest in Q1 on Friday evening and then seventh in both Q2 and Q3 despite difficult mixed conditions on Saturday, after Q4 Hvaal qualified eighth in the amalgamated Supercar Pro and Am Intermediate Classification. Starting on the front row for the Am final, Hvaal then took an early lead to drive to a debut win. In the Pro division, the young driver also made it through to the finial, and ran third on lap one before finishing fourth against far more experienced opposition.
Former event-winner Sondre Evjen returned to RallyX Supercar for his home event and qualified fourth in the Supercar Pro Intermediate Classification. On Sunday morning before the conclusion of the RallyX event, he finished second in the Norwegian Rallycross Championship Supercar finale, one place ahead of event-team mate Hvaal, then challenged for the podium in the RallyX Supercar Pro final but retired with a broken gearbox. Mats Ohman raced a third JC Audi S1 at Grenland, finishing fourth in Supercar Am and 10th in Supercar Pro.
In the Supercar Lites category, Lukas Andersson claimed the Top Qualifier position and won the first semi-final to secure pole position for the final. He led the main event in the early laps, but after a dramatic race ended up fourth on track, before being promoted to third when the winner was handed a penalty post-race. Andersson remains in the title fight heading to the final round in Holjes next weekend.
Joel Christoffersson, JC Raceteknik Team Principal:
“Jens was very, very good this weekend. Grenland is a difficult circuit to be fast on immediately, but he was calm and controlled and managed some very challenging track conditions, especially on Saturday in the heats. He was the best in the Supercar Am class and the victory is very well deserved. With a bit more luck he could also have been on the podium in the Supercar Pro final. He should be very pleased with his weekend. For Sondre, he also should have been on the podium in Supercar Pro were it not for his gearbox problem and I know he is a bit disappointed not to win the Norwegian Championship finale. Mats had another solid weekend and we are now focused on Holjes with him next weekend. For Lukas, he had the win here in his hands but the final didn’t go his way. He was second on the last lap, which would have been a victory as we knew the winner would get a penalty, but third is a strong result and we go to Holjes still fighting for the championship title.”
Jens Hvaal (NOR):
“The weekend was perfect, we got experience in both the rain and the dry and we have learned an extreme amount. To compete against these other guys who are living off driving, and to just to jump in here and be so close and in the fight, I don’t have words. This debut I will never forget, it’s the perfect weekend after what happened last weekend (losing Euro RX3 win) – it fixes a lot. We will see what next year brings, this has opened a lot of doors, doing RallyX is one of them