Norway WRX: Bakkerud dominates to claim season's first win
Andreas Bakkerud simply dominated his home round of the World Rallycross Championship in Hell, Norway by continuing his leading pace from the qualifying stages of the event into the semi-final and final to claim victory and maxiumum points.
Photo by: FIA World Rallycross
Starting on pole position for the first semi-final, Bakkerud converted the position into victory and pole for the final, alongside semi-final two winner Timur Timerzyanov, who had shadowed Bakkerud throughout the weekend.
The front-row pair made equally good launches down the main straight into the first corner of the final, Bakkerud taking for the normal lap while Timerzyanov went straight for the joker route, followed by championship leader Mattias Ekstrom and third row starter Sebastien Loeb.
On the exit of the joker section, Timerzyanov ran wide but maintained his position. Out front, Bakkerud also made a small mistake on the opening lap at the end of the circuit’s loose section, ahead of Timmy Hansen and Petter Solberg.
By the end of lap two, the race had split into two clearly defined sets of three cars, those who hadn’t taken the joker and those who had.
Solberg was the next to take his joker on lap three but he too ran wider than the ideal line and returned to the main circuit just fractions ahead of Loeb in fifth.
Hansen continued to push Bakkerud hard at the front, while Timerzyanov had closed in on the leading pair enough to be able to challenge for the lead when Bakkerud took his joker.
Hansen took his joker lap on the fifth tour, the Peugeot-Hansen driver returning to the main circuit behind Bakkerud, because half a lap earlier, the charging Timerzyanov had picked up a puncture.
Ekstrom, hounded by Solberg, passed Timerzyanov at the circuit’s lowest corner on the loose section on the fifth lap, the Russian driver running wide allowing Solberg and Loeb to also get through.
With the threat of Timerzyanov gone, Bakkerud took his joker on the sixth and final lap, returning to the main circuit in the lead to secure his fourth ever World RX victory, his first for the Hoonigan Racing Division and the first for the M-Sport built Ford Focus RS RX.
Hansen finished second with Ekstrom, who hadn’t had the ultimate pace in the qualifying stages, third to maintain his championship lead.
Solberg headed home former WRC rival Loeb in fourth and fifth with Timerzyanov was classified sixth.
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