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The FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy will visit the Baltic states this weekend as World RX returns to Riga for the second-ever running of the Neste World RX of Latvia (15-17 September).

A total of 81 cars will compete in Latvia including 51 Supercars (21 World RX; 30 Euro RX) and 30 Super1600 cars. Riga will also form the final rounds of the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars and S1600.

It is mathematically possible for series leader Johan Kristoffersson to win the 2017 drivers’ title in Latvia this weekend with two rounds still to go. He is currently 46 points ahead of his PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team-mate Petter Solberg but Kristoffersson will need to extend that lead to 61 points in order to secure the title.

  In the teams’ standings, PSRX Volkswagen Sweden could also win the 2017 title in Latvia.  The team is currently 112 points ahead of Team Peugeot-Hansen and if they finish Riga with the same lead by the end of this weekend, they will have secured the 2017 trophy. 

Kristoffersson explained: “Petter and I work really hard together, we work in the same direction all of the time and we worked for this result. We talk to the engineers and when you have a car around you which gives you confidence, it means you can really push."

"The most important thing in Latvia is more points for the team and another step towards the dream."

Last year marked the first time that World RX had visited Latvia and in spite of torrential rain, the fans descended on the track in their thousands to watch Sebastien Loeb take his maiden World RX victory.

"The track is fantastic and was good to drive even in rain,” explained Mattias Ekstrom, who came second behind Loeb in the final.

"This year, we already tested in Riga and will give our all to reduce our gap to the competition a little more. France was a step in the right direction. In qualifying, I’m shooting for the top spot and want to start from pole position in the semi-finals.”

For local hero Reinis Nitiss, this is a very special race: “Riga is my home round, so that’s maximum motivation,” explained the Latvian.

One major driver change in the World Championship line-up this weekend is JB Dubourg who will not take part due to the imminent birth of his child. Belgium’s Francois Duval will replace Dubourg in the DA Racing Peugeot Supercar. 

Duval took up the story: "I want to thank the Dubourg family, and especially Dominique, for thinking of me as a suitable replacement for this weekend. Jean-Baptiste understandably needs to stay in France, so his seat was vacant - when I received the proposal, I did not hesitate for a second."

"I hope the weather conditions will be changeable, which will level the difference in power of the cars. It’s difficult to set an exact target, but I will do everything to give the maximum I can."

DTM driver Nico Mueller will also make his second World RX appearance, driving the fourth Audi S1 quattro for the EKS team.

Finland’s Joni-Pekka Rajala will race a Mitsubishi Mirage Supercar, while French legend Herve Knapick will make his final World Championship appearance in a Citroen DS3 run by his own team. 

In the final round of the Euro RX Supercar Championship, which is led by Sweden’s Anton Marklund, 30 drivers will compete.

TouringCar racer Philip Gehrman will make his second Supercar start of the year in an Eklund Motorsport Volkswagen Beetle. Another driver to make a return to the series in Latvia will be Poland’s Martin Kaczmarski. 

In Super1600, Norwegian star Espen Isaksaetre will race a Peugeot 208 and Germany’s Sven Seeliger will compete in a Ford Fiesta.

Hungary’s Attila Mozer (Skoda Fabia) and Latvia’s Martins Lapins (Renault Twingo) will make their debuts, while Arnis Odins and Juris Spikis will race Twingos run by the Traubergs Motorsport team. Edijs Oss (VW Polo) makes it five home drivers in Super1600. 

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Johan Kristoffersson made rallycross history today as the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden driver became the first driver to win four consecutive rounds of the FIA World Rallycross Championship.

It is also the Swede’s eighth podium in a row – another World RX record. Frenchman Sebastien Loeb finish second at the Bretagne World RX of France in front of a home crowd of 75,000 while reigning World RX Champion Mattias Ekstrom rounded out the podium.

In the RX2 International Series presented by Cooper Tires, Frenchman Cyril Raymond was crowned the 2017 Champion on home soil.

There is still one RX2 round remaining [Gumtree World RX of South Africa] but Raymond seals the title early as no driver can mathematically beat him on points. Belgium’s Guillaume De Ridder finished runner-up, while Russia’s Vasily Gryazin took the third podium spot in his best finish of the year.

“This is fantastic, I am so confident with the car and it is a result of the hard work from the team,” enthused Kristoffersson, who has extended his lead at the top of the World RX driver standings over team-mate Petter Solberg by 46 points.  

Kristoffersson was also awarded the Monster Energy Super Charge Award for his rapid start off the line in today’s final.

The 28-year-old, who took a lights-to-flag victory, added: “The weather was on my side and I am lucky that I have such an experienced team-mate like Petter who I can take advantage of – his information is invaluable."

"Of course it’s always easy when we have two drivers who are pushing and learning from each other but the team-work from everyone within PSRX Volkswagen Sweden is something that money can’t buy."

"We are now leading the teams’ standings by 112 points and of course that is the main priority but we continue to work hard and hopefully the driver wins will continue at the same time."

Runner-up Loeb, who led Kristoffersson after day one’s two qualifying sessions, added: “Of course I would have preferred to win but it was a fantastic weekend.  This time I felt that we were really in a fight with Volkswagen and that we could have finished on top of the podium."

"Johan was so fast in the final but I had a good drive in conditions that were very tricky. Myself and Timmy were fighting at the top this weekend so it is looking good for the next couple of rounds.  I will aim for a win in Latvia but in rallycross anything can happen and we still have some areas where we need to improve."

"Like Johan said, it is good to have a team-mate who you can learn from – Timmy and I study the data and work well together, he was unlucky in the final.”

Last year’s World RX Champion Ekstrom was back on the podium for the first time since Hockenheim RX. “It’s great to be back in the top three – as a team we can be happy and build on this good result,” enthused Ekstrom. 

“I am looking forward to both Riga and Buxtehude – we have tested at both tracks recently and hopefully we can be a bit closer to the top guys again. Small margins are very important in rallycross and hopefully we can nail qualifying next time and get back on pole for the semi-final.”

Hoonigan Racing Division’s Andreas Bakkerud finished fourth after a solid weekend in the Ford Focus RS RX Supercar. 

A front-right puncture for Solberg in today’s final thwarted the Norwegian’s progress and he eventually finished fifth.  Team Peugeot-Hansen’s Timmy Hansen won the second semi-final in order to start on the front row of today’s final alongside Kristoffersson.  The Swede won Loheac RX two years ago but was unable to repeat the victory following a gearbox problem, forcing him to retire on lap four of the final.

America’s Ken Block finished seventh overall, the Hoonigan Racing Division driver having had an impressive weekend after lying third overnight after day one. Last year’s Euro RX champion Kevin Hansen finished eighth, while MJP Racing Team Austria’s Timo Scheider ended the event in ninth place.

STARD’s Janis Baumanis rounded out the top ten, while EKS team-mates Topi Heikkinen and Reinis Nitiss finished 11th and 12th respectively.  

In the penultimate round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX), Norwegian Thomas Bryntesson took a well-deserved victory to be best of the 35 Supercars competing in the fully-subscribed category. “This is the best result of my career,” beamed Bryntesson who finished runner-up in RX2’s precursor, RX Lites last year. Hungary’s Tamas Pal Kiss finished runner-up, while the 2016 French Rallycross Champion Firmin Cadeddu took the third podium spot.  Sweden’s Anton Marklund finished fourth and continues to lead the standings by 18 points (despite a five-point penalty for receiving a third reprimand).

The battle for Super1600, meanwhile, heated up this weekend as last year’s Champion Krisztian Szabo took the win and moved one point ahead of Latvia’s Artis Baumanis in the overall standings. Frenchman Maximilien Eveno and Denmark’s Ulrik Linnemann finished second and third respectively.

Paul Bellamy, World RX Managing Director for IMG, concluded: “Once again the Loheac RX organisers have put on a tremendous event. The passion from the French fans is extraordinary and despite the rain today, we still had 75,000 spectators visit Loheac this weekend."

"We had over 20 French drivers competing so there was plenty of support in the grandstands and it was fantastic to see a home driver finish on the podium across all four categories [World RX, Euro RX, Super1600 and RX2]."

"Sebastien [Loeb] has finished on the podium for the last four events so it was very fitting that he finished runner-up here this weekend in front of so many passionate French fans.  Congratulations to Johan [Kristoffersson] who once again put on another strong display in his Volkswagen Polo to extend his lead in the standings.”

Round ten of the World Championship moves to Eastern Europe as World RX prepares for the second-ever Neste World RX of Latvia in downtown Riga (15-17 September).

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South African rally driver Ashley Haigh-Smith will make his World RX debut in an Olsbergs MSE Supercar at Gumtree World RX of South Africa, round 12 of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship.

Cape Town RX forms the final round of the World Championship and takes place at the Killarney International Raceway in two months’ time (11-12 November).
 
Haigh-Smith is the second South African to announce he will compete at his home event - two weeks ago Mark Cronje confirmed his Cape Town RX entry in an Albatec Racing prepared Peugeot 208 RX Supercar. 
 
At just 25-years-old, Haigh-Smith has amassed plenty of experience behind the wheel having competed in the Junior World Rally Championship – the only South African driver to have done so - and he also holds the record as the youngest ever South African S1600 Champion.  This year, he is competing in the French Peugeot 208 Rally Cup.

"I have always been interested in Rallycross, but when I was invited to the launch of the World Rallycross of South Africa in Cape Town earlier this year, it was like a switch was tripped and I could think of nothing else,” explained Haigh-Smith who was born and raised in Cape Town.

"We have to be realistic about our objectives coming into the final event of the World RX season – the competition is incredibly strong. I will give my all and be relying on the deep experience and tactical support my race team OMSE will offer me.”

When talking about the home support, Haigh-Smith added: "I am a born and bred Capetonian, which makes this event extra special. Bringing World RX to South Africa is exactly what we need to boost motorsport here and get local fans excited again."

"It's a fantastic showcase for the talent we have on home soil. We have the ability to host world-class events, and RX will help boost the motorsport industry, local communities and the broader economy."

"World RX has already caused a huge media splash and is showing spectacular spectator growth around the world. It comes down to the action-packed racing on show, as well as just how up close and personal spectators can get with drivers and teams throughout the event.”
 
Haigh-Smith is due to test the Olsbergs MSE Supercar in Europe in the coming weeks, but admitted it would be a steep learning curve.
 
“There's so much to learn, but you can be sure I will give my all to represent South Africa and give fans something to cheer for."

"In the short time I have been committed to World RX, I want to thank OMSE, IMG and Killarney International Raceway who have been incredibly helpful in getting us prepared for the event."

"I also want to thank all who have been working behind the scenes to make this possible, I’m really privileged to have such a strong and supportive team behind me. I’m really pumped for November,” concluded Haigh-Smith."

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France’s Sebastien Loeb set the quickest Q2 time in the French round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Loheac and leads the Intermediate Classification overnight. 

Team Peugeot-Hansen driver Loeb won the last race of the Q2 session to be quickest from Q1 winner Johan Kristoffersson and America’s Ken Block.

With a first and second position each, Loeb and Kristoffersson are tied on 95 qualifying points ahead of Q3 and Q4 tomorrow morning.

Ken Block is third. All three Peugeot-Hansen cars are inside the top ten overnight, Sweden’s Timmy Hansen is seventh and Kevin Hansen is eighth. 

“I’m very happy. This was a very good start of the race for us, second in Q1 and first in Q2,” said Loeb. “This is a track where I feel well and it suits our car well also – there’s a lot of grip everywhere and our car is performant when there is grip, we struggle a bit more when it’s slippery."

"The feeling and the setup feels very good; I was confident in the driving, I had very good starts, I could just push and do my job which was great." Added Loeab

"To drive here in front of so many spectators was just incredible. The atmosphere is like nowhere else.” 

Norway’s Andreas Bakkerud and Block had a close race in Q2. Bakkerud was fourth, Latvia’s Janis Baumanis was fifth and Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom sixth. Sweden’s Kevin Hansen, Norway’s Petter Solberg, Switzerland’s Nico Muller and Sweden’s Timmy Hansen completed the top ten. 

In the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercar, it was a repeat of the Q1 top three in Q2, Sweden’s Anton Marklund ahead of Norway’s Tommy Rustad and Thomas Bryntesson.

France’s Cyril Raymond was fastest in Q1, Q2 and Q3 in the RX2 International Series. 

 

         

 

 

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