THREE-RIVERS | Oliver Eriksson made history at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières by winning the very first edition of the electric Nitro RX event on ice on Saturday.
Starting in the lead position, the winner was hardly worried except that his brother Kevin, ranked second at the finish, offered him serious opposition at the start of the race. The two Eriksson orchestrated a Swedish hat-trick as their compatriot Robin Larsson accompanied them on the podium.
“I’m relieved because I had a lot of difficulty finding the right adjustments to improve the behavior of my car at the start of the weekend. But, fortunately, the team worked hard to correct the situation before the semi-final.
“Then, the more the race progressed, the more I felt vibrations in the front axle. Something snapped, but luckily I wasn’t forced to ease off,” he said.
“I really enjoyed this first experience here in Trois-Rivières and I hope you had as much fun as I did. I hope to see you again next year,” he added.
Larsson keeps the lead
The 24-year-old Oliver edged his older brother by 3.2 seconds when the checkered flag was waved after a six-lap final on a winding course laid out at the Hippodrome site.
Jamaican Fraser McConnell crossed the finish line in fourth place ahead of American Travis Pastrana. Briton Oliver Bennett, American Conner Martell and Norwegian Andreas Bakkerud followed in order during this confrontation which brought together eight drivers.
Photo courtesy Stefano Facchin
Travis Pastrana, star of motorized extreme sports, had to settle for fifth place on Saturday at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières. In this photo, taken at the start of the day, he is ahead of winner Oliver Eriksson and Fraser McConnell.
Thanks to his third place, Larsson maintains his lead in the championship with only three stages to play, the next of which, also on the ice, will take place on February 5 in Calgary, Alberta.
His collection of 344 points puts him ahead of Bakkerud (283), McConnell (276), Oliver Eriksson (265) and Pastrana (230).
Too bad for Camirand
In the other scheduled finals, Martin Langlois won the Rally NX division (two-wheel drive) aboard his BMW ahead of Éric Dufour and Éric Courchesne, both in Volkswagen Golfs.
Marc-Antoine Camirand, who was fighting hard for a place on the third step of the podium, was the victim of an exit from the track on the final lap and he had to settle for fourth and last position.
The 2022 NASCAR Pinty’s Series champion lamented a lack of power from his BMW compared to Langlois.
In the four-wheel drive class, Jérôme Mailloux, reigning Canadian champion and winner of the last Rallye de Charlevoix, won ahead of Alex Moreau and Joël Mailloux (Jérôme’s father). The only three participants in the race, all aboard a Subaru WRX, ended up on the podium.
Finally, side by side, Mark Meyer won the final ahead of Jocelyn Thiffault and Martin Villiard.
Gregory and Serge Michaud, considered the logical favorites for the event, withdrew for the final. In fact, of the ten entered at the start of the weekend, only five of them took part in the decisive test.