Sporting Scene
Peugeot driver produces the ultimate comeback to claim slender points lead. By Hal Ridge
Latvia’s introduction to the World Rallycross Championship raised the bar for new events in the series, both in terms of track preparation and event promotion, when the country joined the roster in 2016.
The event that year was won by a certain Sebastien Loeb, the World Rally legend’s first World RX victory. Back then, Loeb’s spotter within the Team Peugeot Hansen squad was Swede Eric Faren who, since Peugeot took over Kenneth Hansen’s outfit for 2018, has set up his own team.
With Peugeot withdrawing from the World RX series last year and Hansen reigniting his own Team Hansen MJP effort for this season, the Swede’s sons Timmy and Kevin arrived at the ninth round of season in Riga last weekend tied for second in the standings, two points off the series leader Andreas Bakkerud.
But, with 14-time European Rallycross Champion Hansen absent from a top flight FIA rallycross round for the first time since July 2012
(due to filming for a Swedish reality television show in Greece), Faren was drafted back into the team to act as spotter for Timmy Hansen in Riga.
Of the three title contenders, it was Andreas Bakkerud who got off to the best start on the opening day, second fastest to Rokas Baciuska in Q1, while Kevin Hansen made a good getaway in his race from an outside grid slot to take the third best time.
Timmy Hansen meanwhile had a battle to the finish line with European Rallycross champion Robin Larsson that cost the Peugeot 208 driver time. The pair tussled again in the opening sequence of corners in their Q2 race, Hansen ending up in the wall at the Turn 2 apex after contact with Larsson and Krisztian Szabo, before retiring later in the same lap with broken rear suspension. Larsson was disqualified from the session for his part in the incident, while
Hansen lay 15th overnight.
Meanwhile, Niclas Gronholm set the best time to climb into the top three, behind overnight leader Baciuska.
With the Riga circuit drenched by heavy rain on Sunday morning, Timmy Hansen made the best starts in Q3 and Q4 to win both of his races, and take a pair of fastest times to climb all the way back to second. A mature second day from Bakkerud, in which he stayed out of trouble and shadowed Timmy Hansen to the finish in Q4, ensured the Norwegian top qualifier position. Baciuska meanwhile was left on the start line in Q3 and dropped to third in the Intermediate Classification, with Kevin Hansen fourth.
The rain had eased during Q4, but fell hard again before the semifinals, every driver in semi-final one running deep into the first corner. Polesitter Bakkerud survived contact with a fast-starting Anton Marklund, then took the race lead into Turn 4 when Liam Doran left an Audi S1-sized door open for his RX Cartel colleague to fit into. Baciuska had another slow start, then spun after first corner contact with Timo Scheider. Bakkerud won the race to secure pole for the final, the two Audis split by Gronholm’s Hyundai at the finish.
Semi-final two was less dramatic, with Timmy Hansen beating his brother away from the line, Kevin then covering the rear of his sibling’s Peugeot into Turn 1, shutting the door on Reinis Nitiss. The Latvian took an early joker, which would prove costly, getting held up by compatriot Janis Baumanis and neither made the final.
Bakkerud had increased his championship margin over
Timmy Hansen to three points in qualifying, and it was that pair that lined up together on the front row for the final.
Again Hansen made a strong start, as Bakkerud dropped back into the pack, behind the GRX Hyundais of Gronholm and Timur Timerzyanov after the first corners.
Bakkerud passed Timerzyanov when the Russian made a mistake on lap one, Timerzyanov then taking his joker, while Kevin Hansen battled with Doran behind. Bakkerud also made a mistake in the same place as Timerzyanov, at Turn 8, on lap three and lost time, and although he climbed to second when Gronholm jokered, Bakkerud would wind up third behind the
Finn and winner Timmy
Hansen. Therefore, for the second time in four years, Eric Faren was the winning spotter in Riga.
Kevin Hansen finished the final fourth, with Timerzyanov fifth and Doran sixth, after a spin.
The result moved Timmy Hansen into the series lead, by a single point from Bakkerud with just the final round in South Africa remaining.
But it’s a shame that with no confirmation of the government funding the Riga event requires to run, it could be absent from the World RX calendar in 2020.
DA Racing team mates Jeanbaptiste and Andrea Dubourg finished first and second in the Euro RX Supercar final, ahead of Swede Peter Hedstrom. Russian Timur Shigabutdinov won the last round of the Super1600 championship in a Volland Racing Audi A1, but the title went the way of team-mate Aydar Nuriev, who claimed the crown in qualifying then promptly got spun at the first corner of his semi-final and didn’t make the final cut.