The weekend that marked the debut of Spa-Francorchamps in the FIA World Rallycross Championship was marked with some nice balance between the entries, much due to the new track factor, and those who adapted to the high speed, high paced circuit prevailed, and this gave to Russian star Timur Timerzyanov his first World RX win, as well to the GRX TANECO squad and their Hyundai i20 RX.
The weekend saw the dominant Team Hansen MJP having to work extra hard to keep the pace with the competition, and an excellent display by the Monster Energy RX Cartel duo and GRX TANECO wildcard Joni Wiman, showing why he was the right choice for the Marcus Grönholm-led team.
The track characteristics suited overnight leader Liam Doran, with the rain spicing up things on it. The Hyundais from GRX TANECO were also strong, while the Team Hansen MJP Peugeots simply were late in the push, in special Timmy Hansen, who was near the elimination zone for much of the qualifying.
Andreas Bakkerud was on top after Q4 with Joni Wiman and Liam Doran following him, while Timmy Hansen leaped to fourth thanks to an epic run in Q4 that secured maximum points for him. The other wildcard of the event, Mattias Ekström, returned to World RX by qualifying 10th.
On semifinal 1 Timur Timerzyanov tried to pierce through the Monster Energy RX Cartel Audis but got past Liam Doran only, who opted to Joker as he tumbled down the order. Andreas Bakkerud was leading but had the Russian on his back and pushing, and he barely passed Bakkerud at the line in a well contested race. Doran had it hard to get third place, overtaking Kevin Hansen after his Joker Lap as things got pretty physical.
Semifinal 2 had Timmy Hansen trying to rocket his way to first but failing miserably by doing it from the outside, which allowed Joni Wiman to take control from first while Janis Baumanis jumped to second. Joker strategy was crucial for position and the leaders saved it for later, but only Joni Wiman capitalized from it, keeping first place to the checkered. Baumanis finished second, barely in front of Hansen, who went too tight in his Joker lap.
The Final was chaos at the start with Wiman being put in the wall at Turn 1 and Doran staying at Eau Rouge, so Timerzyanov got the lead from Bakkerud. Hansen and Baumanis did Joker early but the Latvian got the upper hand, though both were still behind Wiman.
With the threat of Bakkerud and Wiman around, Timerzyanov had to stay tidy in his line, and this proved to be crucial to his first World RX win in 2019, hugely celebrated by the Russian. Bakkerud and wildcard Wiman completed the podium.
Kevin Hansen is still on top with 69 points with Timmy Hansen coming behind with 58, while event winner Timerzynov is third with 53 points, bringing along Janis Baumanis, Andreas Bakkerud and Niclas Grönholm to give a go to the title fight.
Team Hansen MJP leads in the teams with 127 points, but GRX TANECO’s magic weekend put them in a close second with 126 points. Monster Energy RX Cartel comes in third though with some work to do as they have 94 points after Spa.
The World RX goes from an F1 circuit to another, with the SpeedMachine in Silverstone holding the next event on May 26th. Mark Higgins is confirmed as a wildcard while some unanswered questions will probably be solved until race weekend, like who will be in the ESMotorsport Skoda Fabia RX and if Joni Wiman will be kept in the third GRX TANECO Hyundai.
PHOTO: FIA World Rallycross Championship
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