Bad weather
presented itself at Höljes,
Sweden, during the weekend, just to let sunlight bright again on
Sunday for the final parts of the World
RX of Sweden and to show the way for
Norwegian driver Andreas Bakkerud
to win again in the FIA World Rallycross
Championship.
It was an atypical
qualifying round as Johan Kristoffersson
took the lead with Sébastien Loeb
behind him, and Mattias Ekström
had to do a recovery as the current leader was on the verge of
elimination at a given point.
First semifinal is
away and Johan Kristoffersson takes advantadge of being closer to the
inside of the first corner, taking the lead and giving no space to
Petter Solberg
and Toomas Heikkinen.
Even though balance
is the strong point of Solberg’s Citroën DS3 RX, he wasn’t
finding a way to overtake, and to worsen the situation, he and
Heikkinen lost two positions when they went to the Joker. When
Kristoffersson went out the Joker in the last lap, it was a Swedish
1-2-3 with Timmy Hansen,
Kristoffersson and Mattias Ekström, and even though Solberg was
closer to the lead group, he was denied of a spot in the final.
Then we had the
second semifinal, with Andreas Bakkerud taking a dominant position
and closing the door of Sébastien Loeb. Loeb then started to put
pressure in the Hoonigan
Racing Division
driver, but once in the faster section, Bakkerud regained control of
the situation.
On lap 3 Bakkerud
got a more consistent lead while Loeb had to worry with Janis
Baumanis and Niclas Grönholm, but when Baumanis made a mistake and
let the door open to the Olsbergs MSE driver, the lead fight was
resumed. The first four made the Joker lap at the same time, but only
Bakkerud and Loeb remained in their positions, just having to run for
the checkered flag. Baumanis’ hoped of a final were ruined when
Anton Marklund
sneaked into third position to not let it go.
Final race is on and
Timmy Hansen held everybody to keep a Peugeot-Hansen
1-2 with Loeb, but Marklund was near there to make sure he would ruin
the party, and so he did on Lap 2 when he overtook Loeb.
Halfway point and
only the Peugeot-Hansen duo haven’t gone to the Joker, which would
benefit Bakkerud. Hansen’s advantage was good, but in the eleventh
hour Bakkerud got the lead, and with the Ford Focus RS RX dominant in
the final half of the track, Hansen was unable to even try to repeat
what he did last year, making it the second straight win for the
American team. The Swede still had problems in his Peugeot 208 WRX at
the finish line, leaving Loeb finish in second and barely getting the
third spot.
Mattias Ekström is
still the leader with 142 points, but Solberg is right on his
rearview mirror with 137 points, while double winner Bakkerud jumped
to third with 110 points, followed by Loeb and Kristoffersson with
106. Between the teams there are no changes, as EKSRX
leads with 224 points, Team
Peugeot-Hansen has 192 and Volkswagen RX Sweden sits in third with
152 points.
Now the competition
goes to a long one month stop to cross the Atlantic and arrive at the
Trois-Rivieres circuit for the World RX of Canada event, the first of
the two overseas events of the season.
PHOTO: Ford Performance
PHOTO: Ford Performance
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