The 2023 World RX Championship will be decided in Hong Kong next month. Who can win the championship and how? Find out below.
Johan Kristoffersson has pretty much already won his 6th World RX championship. As the reigning champion only needs the following to win the championship next month.
- 11 points total to beat Kevin Hansen.
- 8 points total to beat Timo Scheider.
- 3 points total to beat Niclas Grönholm.
Kevin Hansen
Kevin Hansen is Kristoffersson’s only real challenger heading into the final two rounds in Hong Kong. Sure 36 points separate the two drivers. However, Hansen is the driver Kristoffersson has to score the most points against to win the championship. How can Hansen take home his first championship and stop Kristoffersson’s domination?
This one is going to require a bit more typing than Kristoffersson’s did. As on paper Kevin Hansen has to score 37 more total points than Kristoffersson in Hong Kong to win the championship m. However, that’s solely assuming Kristoffersson scores 0 points at both runnings of the event. Which is the only way Hansen can win the championship. As normally there’d be a bit of math involved in this. However, with only 8 or 9 competitors at events, there’s no other option for Hansen. As normally there’d be the hope that Kristoffersson finishes lower than 11th at both rounds to score 10 points for the event. Which would tie Kristoffersson and Hansen to end the season at 117 points meaning Kristoffersson still wins on countback. This means the highest Kristoffersson could finish is 11th and 12th for 9 points. As previously mentioned this is impossible as 8 is less than the needed 12 drivers to make that possible.
Timo Scheider
Much like Kevin Hansen, Scheider can only win the World RX championship if Kristoffersson scores 0 points at both events. Scheider must also score 4 or more points combined than Hansen over the weekend. As if Scheider doesn’t close the gap to Hansen he won’t win the championship. Unless a miracle happens Scheider won’t win the championship.
Niclas Grönholm
Realistically Grönholm is out of the championship running much like Hansen and Scheider. As Kristoffersson only needs to score 3 points over the weekend to end Grönholm’s slim championship hopes. Just for fun, I’ll tell you how Grönholm can win the championship next month. Starting at the same point as Hansen and Scheider did, Kristoffersson must score 0 points in Hong Kong. From that point, Grönholm must score 6 more points than Scheider and 9 more points than Hansen.