The fight for the FIA World Rallycross Championship title in 2019 will leave the fans in ecstasy, as three contenders have huge chances, and after Timmy Hansen’s victory in Latvia RX at Bikernieki, his particular battle with Andreas Bakkerud is incredibly tight.
The qualifying had another rocket start for Rokas Baciuska as he topped the table, and Niclas Grönholm put the GRX Taneco Hyundai on top on Q2. Overnight rain changed the game drastically, with Timmy Hansen getting back to back wins in Q3 and Q4 to compensate his dismal start, so Andreas Bakkerud capitalized on pure consistency to be the top qualifier without a single heat win, being followed by Timmy Hansen, Rokas Baciuska and Kevin Hansen.
Semifinal 1 had a wet track and some persistent rain, and this made the whole field overshoot the turn 1 braking point, and out of the mess the Monster Energy RX Cartel duo came up as leaders, with Andreas Bakkerud leading Liam Doran and Niclas Grönholm following both closely.
Opting to Joker after the whole field worked for RX Cartel’s strategy as Doran still qualified as third after being passed by Grönholm, and Bakkerud gained the most with it, winning with authority.
Semifinal 2 gained extra importance for the Team Hansen MJP drivers, so the obvious move was team play, and Timmy led Kevin to work on holding the top spots, but the problem is that Timur Timerzyanov was around and eager to find an opening to go past. Although Timerzyanov tried to work around the Hansen wall, the brothers kept their 1-2 as it started.
The Final was of absolute importance for the championship too, but Timmy Hansen got the upper hand when Timur Timerzyanov overshot the first corner and held most of the field, including Bakkerud and Kevin Hansen.
The problem for Bakkerud is that, despite being in third he had Grönholm’s second position and his own mistakes interefering, and despite his best efforts, the Norwegian had to settle for the last podium place, all while seeing Timmy Hansen cruise to victory.
Timmy Hansen is back to the top spot in the standings with 187 points against 186 of Bakkerud, while Kevin Hansen lost ground and is in third with 179 points, and they are the only contenders for the title at the final round, the Cape Town RX at Killarney on November 9th.
PHOTO - Team Hansen MJP/Red Bull
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