Hat-trick for rally cross winner
THE MOTORSPORT LAP / It was all about the World Rally of Canada this past weekend in international motorsport
The World RX (Rally Cross) Championship continues to heat up following the Canada leg in which Johan Kristofferson (Volkswagen RX) showed a clean pair of heels to rivals to emerge victorious at the weekend.
Kristoffersson finished ahead of rally legend Petter Solberg (Petter Solberg World RX Team) and Sebastien Loeb (Team Peugeot-Hansen).
This latest victory was Kristoffersson’s third in a row and the fifth successive win for PSRX Volkswagen Sweden. He now leads the championship with 211 points, followed by Solberg on 176 and Mattias Ekstrom with 158, with four races to go, including the finale in Cape Town in November.
It was also the Czech Republic leg of the MotoGP championship, in which the drenched conditions at the start of the race meant a rear wet-tyre strategy was necessary.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) took the chequered flag 20 seconds ahead of Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda). Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) rounded off the podium.
In the Moto2 class, Thomas Luethi (Kalex) proved the man to beat and finished ahead of Miguel Oliveira (Kalex) and Alex Marquez (Kalex). South African rider Brad Binder (KTM), finished 12th overall.
In Moto3, Leopard Racing Honda rider Joan Mir romped to the first podium spot ahead of Romano Fenati (Rivacold Snipers Honda) and Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda).
In the Nurburgring leg of the ADAC GT Master’s series in Germany, Markus Pommer and South African Kelvin van der Linde (Aust Motorsport Audi) clinched the main race, ahead of Nick Catsburg (BMW Team Schnitzer) and Jeffrey Schmidt (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi).
“What a great race!” said a jubilant Van der Linde. “I’ve had to wait two years for my latest win in the ADAC GT Masters, but we’ve got the right package and a great driver line-up.”
The next race will take place at the Sachsenring, Germany, on September 15 to 17.
Sad news is the passing of Angel Nieto. The legendary Spanish rider suffered severe injuries in a road crash in Ibiza on July 26 when his quad bike collided with a car.
Nieto was taken to hospital in a critical condition. He was placed in an induced coma and doctors planned to begin the waking-up process. But his condition worsened drastically on Thursday as a result of a cerebral edema.
The 70-year-old, 13-time world motorbike champion, was instrumental in establishing Spain as one of the best nations to cultivate winning bike riders.
During his career, he achieved 90 Grand Prix victories, bettered only by Italian riders Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi.