Hansen wins 2019 WRX title
WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP: EPIC FINAL WOWS LARGE CAPE CROWD
Spoils of the day go to Finn Niclas Gronholm in his Hyundai 130.
Timmy Hansen (Red Bull Peugeot 208) won the 2019 World Rallycross Championship at Killarney in the Western Cape in a dramatic finale yesterday, that saw the two title
leaders clash on the opening lap and spin out.
Niclas Gronholm (GRX Taneco Hyundai i30) then snatched the race lead which he held to the end, winning the Sabat Rallycross of
South Africa, but he was not involved in the title dispute.
There are 196 races in a World Rallycross season and the title fight came down to race number 196.
Title hopeful Andreas Bakkerud (Monster RX Cartel Audi) ended in second place, earning enough points to tie at the top of the points log with Hansen.
The title was then determined on a count back of wins, with Hansen having four to Bakkerud’s one.
At the time of writing, the FIA stewards were investigating the race incident.
Third place overall at Rallycross SA went to the Russian Timur Timerzyanov (GRX Taneco Hyundai i30), with Timmy and Kevin Hansen (Red Bull Peugeot) ending in fourth and fifth respectively.
The road to victory was hardfought between 16 of the world’s fastest Rallycross Supercars under the shadow of Table Mountain.
Timmy Hansen took top honours in Qualifying One from his title rival Andreas Bakkeru by 0.28 seconds with Finn Niclas Gronholm taking third place. Kevin Hansen was fourth ahead of Timo Scheider (All-Inkl.Com Seat Ibiza) and Timur Timerzyanov in the second GRX Taneco Hyundai.
Qualifying Two saw the Hyundais top the time sheets with Gronholm beating Timerzyanov by 0.3 seconds.
Timmy Hansen was a relatively lowly ninth with Bakkerud down in 11th place.
When the times were tallied, Gronholm led the overnight standings from Hansen, Russian Timerzyanov, Scheider, Kevin
Hansen and Bakkerud.
Hansen set the weekend’s fastest lap time in Qualifying Three yesterday en route to winning the session.
Bakkerud won his Q3 race as well, while Gronholm jumped the start of race three and had to complete two joker laps as a result. Despite this, he blitzed all-comers in his heat to take another race win.
The momentum was with Hansen after Q3 followed by Gronholm and Bakkerud. Kevin Hansen rose to fourth ahead of Timerzyanov.
The final qualifying race saw Gronholm win again from Timmy Hansen and Bakkerud with Kevin Hansen in fourth.
The fight to make the semi-finals raged throughout the field as Bennett punted Furazhkin into the wall in turn six as the Russian’s Skoda slowed unexpectedly; the Mini man scraped into the
196 races – and race 196 determined the title
semis at the expense of Jere Kalliokoski (Team Stard Fiesta).
The two semi-final races were won by Bakkerud and Hansen, leaving the title chase wide open, still separated by two points with the final six laps of the year to run.