World RX: Bakkerud wins in Italy, title fight still open

Andreas Bakkerud (Ford Olsbergs MSE) won the Italian round of World Rallycross Championship today at Circuit Franciacorta. In the Supercar final he was faster than Johan Kristoffersson in Volkswagen Sweden’s Polo and Petter Solberg in Citroen DS3. Other finalists were Anton Marklund (EKS RX), Manfred Stohl (World RX Team Austria) and Timur Timerzyanov (Namus Olsbergs).

Timmy Hansen (Team Peugeot-Hansen) dropped off in the Semifinals and opened the opportunity for Petter Solberg to catch his second championship title on today’s event. Solberg needed a victory to increase the gap over Hansen to 30 points, which is the maximum for one event. He finished 3rd and his advantage before the World RX final event in Argentina is 26 points, so we must wait for crowning the new (or old) champion until November 29. Solberg needs only five points for the title, so Timmy Hansen’s chance to grab the title is almost impossible.

Although we must wait until the last round for the new world champion, today we got Teams’ champions, European Rallycross champion and two champions in supporting categories. Team Peugeot-Hansen collected 442 points and took the world title ahead of Ford Olsbergs MSE with 379 points.

Tommy Rustad (Marklund Motorsport) dominated in Euro RX competition and defended his championship lead ahead of Jerome Grosset-Janin (Albatec Racing) for European crown. Rustad was the best after four qualifying heats, won his Semifinal group and at the end, he was the fastest in Final.

Latvian driver Janis Baumanis won the S1600 championship. He didn’t win in the Final of Italian round but sixth place was enough for him to secure points for the title. The winner at Franciacorta was Ulrik Linnemann, who finished second in championship.

In RX Lites category, the new champion is Kevin Hansen, Timmy Hansen’s younger brother. He won the title with the second place at Italian round, behind last year’s champion Kevin Eriksson.