Kristoffersson, Ekstrom and Larsson – Sweden’s magic triangle of rallycross

This week Johan Kristoffersson was confirmed as the winner of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship. At the same time KYB Team JC became the Teams’ Champion, its two Audi S1 Supercars having been raced in 2020 by Mattias Ekstrom and Robin Larsson. Aside from the Swedish nationality of all involved, there’s a link between this group of Rallycross World Champions.

We will turn the clock back to 2013. IMG had completed its first year as promoter of the FIA European Rallycross Championship and had announced that in 2014 the FIA would bestow World Championship status.

In Sweden Johan Kristoffersson had been driving a VW Scirocco run by the family KMS squad at the Swedish National championship events. His outings were regarded as ‘demonstrations’ as there was no multi-round series for Supercars in Sweden, the national championship instead decided in a single event at the end of the year.

At the end of 2013 Robin Larsson, for whom the year had promised much but delivered little, sold his TouringCar Skoda Fabia and cast his eyes to the Supercar category.

The Kinnekullering in mid-October brought together KMS and Larsson, the young racer getting his first competitive Supercar run in a second Scirocco (owned by Belgian Jochen Coox) and run by KMS alongside Kristoffersson. The day did not go that well for either, and ultimately Larsson went his own way in Supercar while KMS replaced the Scirocco with a Polo and began it’s path to making a World Champion out of Kristoffersson.

And Ekstrom? Rewind a little further and in 1999 we find Ekstrom racing in the Swedish Touring Car Championship driving an Audi A4 run by KMS. Together they won the championship.

The three stories below track the events above and Kristoffersson’s World Championship ambition.