Johannes Brock was at Hockenheim for round 2 of the World Rallycross Championship. We take a look at this series in what is a new category for RacerViews.
Norway’s Petter Solberg took a lights-to-flag victory at the first ever World RX of Hockenheim, round two of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy, which was attended by over 75,000 people this weekend. Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Reinis Nitiss took the runners-up spot and Team Peugeot-Hansen’s Timmy Hansen finished third.
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Joining the highly-acclaimed DTM series, World RX made its debut at the iconic F1 venue this weekend as a purpose-built rallycross circuit was constructed inside the famous Sachs Arena. SDRX had a strong weekend as Britain’s Liam Doran led after heat two, while Solberg went on to win heats three and four, the semi-final and the all-important final. He now leads the overall World RX Drivers’ Championship by 15 points. SDRX lead Ford Olsbergs MSE in the Teams’ Championship by three points and have a total of 74 points. Peugeot-Hansen lie third with 65 points.
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“I love big fights and tough competitions and that’s why I love rallycross, The fans seemed to love rallycross and it’s been great to be in Hockenheim alongside DTM this weekend, it’s been very well organised. It’s not been an easy weekend: we had a bad start on Friday, there was little grip off the line and then I had a puncture in the semi-final. I had two choices going into Saturday: one was to go fast or the second was to go very fast – I went for the second option! I know everybody says this but my win is credit to the team. They are fantastic and I wouldn’t be here without them.
Petter Solberg
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Runner-up Nitiss was a model of consistency this weekend as the 19-year-old posted a series of top five times during the heats and was placed second at the Intermediate Classification. “I am very happy, we are getting closer and closer to Petter all the time, but I guess that he has been in cars for longer than I have been alive,” joked the 19-year-old Latvian.
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Team Peugeot-Hansen continued its podium-winning streak as team-mate Timmy Hansen finished third in the Peugeot 208 WRX supercar. The 22-year-old Swede qualified 12th after the Intermediate Classification and despite starting on the back grid for his semi and the final, the driver showed tremendous pace to earn a podium spot.
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“I was feeling lost at the end of yesterday as something didn’t feel right but my family and team kept me going. Today I woke up and felt different – we found a very good strategy and the start was unbelievable. I really pushed behind the wheel and it paid off. I’m feeling very emotional.”
Timmy Hansen
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After two back-to-back events, the World RX crews will now have a short break before they prepare for round three at Mettet in Belgium from 23-24 May. The Belgian RX round will also formed the opening round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship and will see a total of 39 Supercars take part.
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About the series
The cars
- 0-60 MPH / 1.9 S
- 600 BHP / 900Nm Torque
- 8,000 RPM / AWD
- Manual shift {no driver aids}
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The race
Each race is four laps (six in semis & final) including a Joker lap. The full event takes part over two days.
Each driver takes part in four heats of five cars each. Each race has points. 50 for first, 45 for second, 42 for third 40 for fourth, 39 for fifth and so on. After the heats, the top 12 go onto to the semi finals where there are two races (points are (per race) 6-5-4-3-2-1). The top six go through to a final and the winner takes out the race weekend. The points for the final are 8-5-4-3-2-1.
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Champion
The World Champion is the driver with the most Championship Points after 12 rounds.
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Photos by Johannes Brock
Words by RX PR
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