Nitro Rallycross Sweden has passed marking the end of the second round of the 2022-23 Season. A new battle bracket winner and a new finals winner were crowned.
That’s New
Nitro Rallycross Sweden saw the introduction of new Battle Bracket Seeding Heats, where six drivers race to determine Battle Bracket Position. Heat One saw Robin Larsson, Andreas Bakkerud, Johan Kristoffersson, Conner Martell, Oliver Bennett and Kris Meeke battle. Meeke would start the race but immediately retire off the line due to an unknown issue with the car. Larsson would win the heat beating Kristoffersson by 0.494 seconds. Heat two saw Niclas Grönholm, Travis Pastrana, Oliver Eriksson, Fraser McConnell and Ole Christian Veiby battle. Niclas Gronholm would take the win by a mere 0.452 seconds over Travis Pastrana.
Battle Bracket Round One Recap
Round One would only see four of the 11 drivers race, those four being Conner Martell, Oliver Bennett, Fraser McConnell and Ole Christian Veiby. Conner Martell would beat Ole Christian Veiby by 0.433 seconds. Fraser McConnell would beat Oliver Bennett by 6.068 seconds.
Battle Bracket Round Two Recap
Round Two would start with Robin Larsson beating Fraser McConnell by 2.789 seconds. Andreas Bakkerud would narrowly beat Travis Pastrana by 1.023 seconds. Conner Martell would beat Niclas Gronholm by 0.488 seconds. Oliver Eriksson would cut Johan Kristoffersson’s first day short when he beat Kristoffersson by 0.378 seconds
Battle Bracket Round Three Recap
Round Three would start with Andreas Bakkerud making sure a new Battle Bracket Champion would be crowned when he beat Robin Larsson by 11.455 seconds. Oliver Eriksson would eliminate Conner Martell by 1.294 seconds.
Battle Bracket Final Recap
Oliver Eriksson would face Andreas Bakkerud in the Battle Bracket Final. Bakkerud gave DRR JC a chance to go 2-0 in the battle bracket finals, but Eriksson would put a stop to that when he beat Bakkerud by 0.521 seconds.
Group E Heats
Heat One would see Andreas Bakkerud, Kris Meeke, Fraser McConnell, Oliver Bennett, Travis Pastrana and Robin Larsson face off. Bakkerud would win the heat by 1.685 seconds over Kris Meeke and advance to the final. Heat Two would see Oliver Eriksson, Niclas Gronholm, Johan Kristoffersson, Conner Martell and Ole Christian Veiby face off. Johan Kristoffersson would win the heat, but would later be penalized three seconds for exceeding track limits. Due to Kristoffersson’s penalty, Oliver Eriksson would inherit the lead and advance directly to the final, beating Niclas Gronholm by 0.719 seconds.
Group E Semi-Finals
Semi-final one would see Robin Larsson, Fraser McConnell, Niclas Gronholm, Conner Martell and Travis Pastrana face off. Robin Larsson would win semi-final one by beating Fraser McConnell by 2.855 seconds and advance to the final along with McConnell. Semi-final two would see Kris Meeke, Ole Christian Veiby, Johan Kristoffersson and Oliver Bennett face off. Kris Meeke would win the semi-final by 20.281 seconds, over Ole Christian Veiby to advance to the finals with Veiby.
Group E Last Chance Qualifier
The last chance qualifier would see Johan Kristoffersson, Conner Martell, Travis Pastrana, Oliver Bennett and Niclas Gronholm face off. Kristoffersson would win the LCQ to punch his ticket to the final by beating Conner Martell by 3.549 seconds. Martell would also punch his ticket to the final by beating teammate Travis Pastrana by 0.113 seconds.
Group E Finals
The second-ever Nitro Rallycross Group E Final saw Andreas Bakkerud, Robin Larsson, Fraser McConnell, Johan Kristoffersson, Ole Christian Veiby, Conner Martell, Kris Meeke, and Oliver Eriksson face off. Although he wasn’t able to make DRR JC 2-0 in the Battle Bracket Finals, Andreas Bakkerud was able to make them 2-0 in the Finals, when he beat teammate and round one winner Robin Larsson by 1.963 seconds.
Group E Championship
Andreas Bakkerud was able to narrow the gap between him and teammate Robin Larsson with his Nitro Rallycross Sweden win. Fraser McConnell was able to move into third place passing Niclas Gronholm who falls to fifth.
Robin Larsson 107
Andreas Bakkerud 105
Fraser McConnell 72
Oliver Eriksson 61
Niclas Gronholm 60
My name is Joe Moore, I am a writer for Belly Up Hockey, Belly Up Racing, and Belly Up Sports. You can find me on Twitter.
