An uncommon event
was seen at Estering,
even though EKS
owner Mattias
Ekström
broke the winning streak of Johan
Kristoffersson
and PSRX Volkswagen in the FIA
World
Rallycross
Championship,
as track condition was a factor that shuffled things during the
weekend.
Petter Solberg barely
recovered from his shunt in Latvia, and after surgery and with a
Kevlar guard being worn he not only entered to compete but he also
was the top qualifier at Estering, with Mattias Ekström and Timmy
Hansen coming behind, while recently crowned World Champion
Johan Kristoffersson qualified in fourth.
On semifinal 1 Toomas Heikkinen and
Timmy Hansen got some serious contact which pretty much shuffled the
field and gave a good advantage to Petter Solberg. Between the
clashing drivers was Janis Baumanis, making it tough for Hansen to go
past him. Solberg and Heikkinen stayed out of trouble during the
whole race and kept first and second, but the traffic jam in the
Joker Lap wasn't in favor of Baumanis, who lost time and the third
place to Hansen.
The start of the second semifinal Kevin
Hansen made a jump start which was barely noticeable, but
punished him with another Joker. When things went for real Kevin
Eriksson almost repeated the round the outside move he did last year
but had to settle for third until the second lap, when a he crashed
due to contact with Kevin Hansen and Sébastien Loeb got third place.
With huge gaps between Ekström and
Kevin Hansen, both just run to the finish untouched in first and
second, but Loeb proved again that the late Joker wasn't working as
Niclas Grönholm emerged from fourth to a dash that qualified him to
the final by a tiny margin to Loeb.
In the final it looked like Solberg
would protect his lead but Ekström overtook him, and the same
mistake that took Heikkinen in the outside of the first corner put
Solberg down to last, and more mistakes at that slippery part of the
track condemned Kevin Hansen and Grönholm, which put Heikkinen into
third place. With open way ahead and no threats behind, Ekström won
the final and Timmy Hansen, unable to catch him, finished in second,
with Heikkinen completing the podium.
The second place battle is still on, as
Solberg has 234 points against 233 of Ekström, and so it is between
the teams as Peugeot-Hansen has 379 points against 351 of EKS, with
only the Cape Town RX in South Africa to go, which will be held on
November 10th.
PHOTO: EKS RX
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