Det ble en dramatisk når verdensmesterskapet i rallycross besøkte Norge. Til slutt ble det finsk seier på Lånkebanen utenfor Hell, mens Andreas Bakkerud ikke kom til finalen.
Anton Marklund gikk først over mål, men ble straffet på grunn av brudd på det tekniske regelverket. Når også Kevin Hansen fikk en straff, ble det seier til Niclas Grönholm. Andreas Bakkerud kom dessverre ikke til finale på hjemmebane.
I EM-runden ble det tredjeplass i Thomas Bryntesson, mens Sondre Evjen ble nummer seks. I RX2 ble Ben-Philip Gundersen nummer to.
Les mer fra teamet til Grömholm på engelsk her:
The fifth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship saw a dramatical last minute weather change, action packed racing and above all – a strong performance by GRX Taneco team, with Niclas Grönholm finishing first and Timur Timerzyanov seventh.
After a six-week long recovery from appendicitis surgery, Niclas Grönholm was performing even above his own expectations, by setting the fastest times in Q1, Q2, and Q4. His teammate Timerzyanov was following close by, and before semi-finals both drivers were P1 and P3 in the intermediate classification.
Sudden weather changes with a heavy rain impacted the grip levels for Semi-finals and Final and made the driving more challenging. Grönholm won the semi-final, while Timerzyanov was involved in the first corner mess and could not set a competitive lap times due to the suspension damage. In the Final a poor grip prevented Niclas from making a good start and for most of the race the young Finn was following Kevin Hansen. Although Grönholm crossed the finish line third, after the race stewards made two decisions that amended the result of the race and eventually Niclas was declared to be an official winner of the FIA World RX of Norway.
“This is not how I imagined my first ever World RX win to come, but that’s not my decision and I will take it as it is. There are a lot of positive things to take from this weekend. We were on top of our game for most of the race and I think we had the package to win it on the track. In the Final there was no grip at the first row of the start grid and that pretty much defined how this run played out. We have the next race in just a few weeks and performance in Norway gives us a vision on what we must aim at,” Niclas Grönholm said after the finish.
“This weekend we clearly showed our potential and being on the front line of the Semi-final together with Niclas, felt great. Unfortunately contacts in the first lap of the Semi-final left their marks and I was unable to control my car properly, to keep the competition behind me. It’s just a bad luck that struck me this time and cost me valuable championship points,” says Timur Timerzyanov.
“One more time I must say that I am very proud of everyone in the GRX Taneco team. With every race we learn more, we improve more, we work hard and we don’t jump ahead of ourselves. The performance what we delivered this weekend is a result of that. Winning the race in stewards’ room is not what we had in mind and I feel for our competitors, but we will take it,” comments GRX Taneco Team Manager Jussi Pinomäki.
After five FIA World RX rounds Niclas Grönholm is 5th and Timur Timerzyanov is 6th in the Driver’s championship, while the GRX Taneco is still in the runner-up position in Teams standings. Next FIA World Rallycross Championship round will take place on July 5-7 in Höljes, Sweden.