After one month
stopped, the FIA World Rallycross
Championship finally came to Argentina
to end the 2015 season, in a weekend that had a bit of everything:
interruptions due to the dusty track conditions, tricky points
varying from dusty to slippery, surprise contenders, as well Robin
Larsson as the winner. In the middle of
the things that happened at Rosario, Petter
Solberg claimed his second straight
World RX title.
In fact, Solberg
conquered a title that was already certain as only a miracle would
revert the title to Timmy Hansen, still in the qualifying heats, when
the fourth heat was cancelled and results were decided by the third
heat. Also, praise goes to World RX novice Janis
Baumanis as well Kevin
Hansen, the younger brother of Timmy
Hansen, advancing in his debut in a
World RX
supercar.
In the first
semifinal, Robin Larsson started better while the rest of the pack
fought in the middle of the dustcloud of the first corners of the
Rosario circuit. Being able to see something ahead was a challenge,
and Andreas Bakkerud
judged badly the exit of the turn before the joker lap and smashed
the barrier. Although disappointed, the Olsbergs
MSE driver left out unscathed.
Larsson was still in
the lead while followed by his fellow countrymen Mattias
Ekström and Johan
Kristoffersson. On lap 4, Kevin Hansen
closed in Kristoffersson and it didn’t take long to overtake him
and get the third place. Robin Larsson won the race while Ekström
followed him in second and a surprise third place was in the hands
for the younger of the Hansen clan.
Few minutes passed
and the second semifinal started with Timmy Hansen holding Petter
Solberg in the first corner, just to being overtaken by the SDRX
driver some corners later, with Davy Jeanney and Janis Baumanis
getting second and third place.
The race was good
for Solberg, but then Hansen charged back to front pack and stole
Solberg’s win, leaving the Norwegian driver with the second place
while Baumanis surprised everyone being third and putting his car and
the World RX Team Austria
squad in the final. A worrying detail in this race was the severe
contact that Anton Marklund had with the barriers, as a good chunk of
his car was destroyed. Even though he was out of the race and with a
smashed Audi, he was OK and climbed out of his car by himself.
The last final of
the 2015 season went green and Timmy Hansen and Robin Larsson were
side by side from the go to almost the whole first lap, but behind
was Mattias Ekström, who took advantage of the mess and sneaked into
second place, starting a pursuit to Larsson, leaving Hansen in third
place. Then problems from off-track excursions to any other sort of
misfortune hit the older of the Hansens on track, retiring in the
middle of the race. Janis Baumanis was doing an outstanding job
holding Solberg, but experience prevailed and the World Champion went
to third.
Seeing that Larsson
would leave no room, Ekström went to the joker on lap 5, just to be
surprised by Solberg in the other side of the track, and then they
had a side by side contact that threw Solberg’s Citroën some
meters away.
Now it was the last
lap and Larsson’s time to go to the joker lap, and he came with all
the care possible to not slide more than needed in the gravel
section. Thankfully to Larsson, the tarmac section of the joker lap
helped him to get that extra push and traction to beat Ekström at
the finish line, the first win for Larsson in the 2015 season.
Solberg ended the
championship with 301 points while Timmy Hansen finished with 275,
meaning that the Team Peugeot-Hansen
driver posed a stronger challenge to Petter than in the 2014 season.
Now, they all go to the off-season, and Solberg still needs to
confirm if he will stay in World RX, as his Citroën DS3 RX and his
team truck was on sale.
PHOTOS: FIA World Rallycross
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