Norwegian driver Thomas Bryntesson opened the FIA Euro RX1 Championship smiling and celebrating, as not only he conquered the first round at Höljes but also beat some heavyweight opposition with impressive resumes that includes even World RX participations.
Despite some fast runs, Anton Marklund prevailed over the field on Q1, and although Andreas Bakkerud did an incredible run on Q2, Marklund was still ahead due to a great push given by a stronger race, which also put Fabien Pailler in the mix, which was also the story of Q3, but now without Bakkerud in the chase as he spun in his heat.
A rocket performance put Thomas Bryntesson on top in Q4, beating mighty runs from Jean Baptiste Dubourg and Andreas Bakkerud, which propelled the Norwegian to second in the Qualifying, just behind top spot holder Fabien Pailler and ahead of Anton Marklund, who had a massive roll during his heat in Q4, which pretty much compromised his Volkswagen Polo RX.
Established names saw the exit being shown after the Qualifying, with Csucsu and Mandie August narrowly missing the advance to Hans-Joran Østreng, while Ales Fucik and Sivert Svardal saw their efforts not handing them a Semifinal ticket. The most unlikely name in the elimination list was Janis Baumanis, returning to rallycross with ESMotorsport, as a weekend plagued with problems saw the Latvian not making the most out of his World RX experience as he finished in 20th position.
Semifinal 1 was one to watch due to half of the field having World RX experience, but Euro RX ace Bryntesson kept the lead from the go while the Dubourgs were on the chase, with Andrea being sent to Joker to press Bakkerud. Jean Baptiste Dubourg took advantage in the DA Racing tactics while the fast guys were held by Anders Michalak, and while Bryntesson led JB Dubourg, Bakkerud held his defensive run for as much possible, only to be passed by Andrea Dubourg with half a lap to go and lose the Final spot.
Semifinal 2 had a high level grid too, with only one driver without World RX experience. While Tamás Kárai went straight off track, Jonathan Pailler had René Münnich were battling for the lead while Fabien Pailler was watching from third place to try an overtake and make the tactics work.
After that it was a series of off track trips for different reasons, with Østreng spinning, Münnich suffering from massive understeer and Fabien Pailler losing a wheel, which sent Jonathan Pailler to the top and the win, while Csucsu and Kárai were awarded with the second and third places, then advancing to the Final.
The Final had a 3-wide start turn into a Turn 1-2 mess, with Bakkerud going to Joker to avoid the sparks flying, which allowed Bryntesson and JB Dubourg to have their particular fight while Bakkerud was chasing Jonathan Pailler with the Joker done, but the advantage of doing this faded away as Pailler held the 2019 World RX runner-up, letting him free on Lap 5.
In the end, Bryntesson was leading Dubourg and Bakkerud into a 3-way fight to the flag, and the Norwegian kept his Volkswagen Polo RX ahead of the tight competition to win at Höljes.
Euro RX1 Höljes - Event results
Next event will be the Lohéac RX on 5 September, and taking advantage of the home ground, several local drivers will take part of it, like Emmanuel Anne, Benoit Fretin, Stéphane De Ganay, David Meslier, Laurent Bouliou and Anthony Pelfrene, while Luigi is one of the few non-French drivers joining in, as he will drive a Skoda Fabia RX, in a grid that will have 26 drivers.
PHOTO: Red Bull Content Pool
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