Turpeinen wins on RallyX Sunday at Nysum

The tight battle between Ulrik Linnemann and Joni Turpeinen raged on during the second leg of RallyX at Nysum, and the marginal gain in the Final proved to be the extra that Turpeinen needed to not only score the win but also to boost his title hopes.

 
Joni Turpeinen and Ulrik Linnemann were neck on neck to see who became the top qualifier, with them getting in a draw as Turpeinen had a slightly worse Q2, although the victories in the wet Q1 and in the dry Q3 sealed the deal for the Finnish driver instead of the Danish. Oliver Eriksson and Martin Enlund were the next ones in the intermediate table, but on track they weren’t near enough of both Linnemann and Turpeinen.
 
Semifinal 1 saw Turpeinen barge his way to the lead and leave Oliver Eriksson to Filip Martinsson. With Marcis Matinovs and Dennis Romer not challenging the top three directly despite Martinsson’s mistakes, the order remained where it was as Turpeinen and Eriksson had pace to make the qualification to the Final a mere formality.
 
Semifinal 2 showed more threats to Linnemann’s ambitions as he had Enlund and Mats Öhman coming in hot. Linnemann had it in control for the whole race and won with considerable margin, while Enlund and Öhman had to keep it tidy to protect second and third place from Maiko Tamm, who had both within visual distance in the final laps.
 
The Final had Turpeinen starting well and Enlund finding room to take second place from Linnemann while Eriksson opted for an early Joker as he wouldn’t find clean air too soon. Linnemann and Öhman followed suit and this kept the Danish in the run, though Enlund outpaced him in the next lap, leaving only Turpeinen to Joker.
 
With Enlund willing to block Linnemann to keep second place, the Danish brute forced his way to the runner-up spot, but when he did so, Turpeinen was unreachable and just had to cross the line to confirm the win.
 
RallyX - Nysum II event results
 
Turpeinen keeps the lead with 166 points and he is in a pretty comfortable situation to lift the title at the Estering final double, as Enlund has 141 points, Martinsson has 130, Oliver Eriksson has 128 and Tamm has 125. The double header at the classic German venue will be held on 10 and 11 August, and will count with the return of Kevin Eriksson and Frank Valle, as well Münnich Motorsport in full force with René Münnich and Mandie August.
 
PHOTO: RallyX