Sweden’s Timmy Hansen set the quickest time in Q2 at the World RX of Germany, round 11 of the FIA World Rallycross Championship 

The Team Peugeot-Hansen driver was almost 1.5 seconds quicker than Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom, who was second in Q2 after winning race five and is TQ (top qualifier) on day one. Norway’s Petter Solberg continued to produce a heroic performance after his accident in Latvia to finish third quickest in Q2. 

“We had quite a lot of fun, this is more like old school rallycross, a lot of gravel, very slippery so I somehow I love it even though Ifeel when I come here I would like to get more kilometres in the slippery conditions because I can still feel I’m missing the edge to feel that I’m in control. Sometimes the car takes me for a ride,” said Ekstrom.

“We always try to focus on the starts to be good off the line, but we need to be good around the track as well so we try to find a compromise and the confidence to get decent lap times as well. As everybody knows here it’s very important to have good starts.” 

2017 World RX Champion Johan Kristoffersson was fourth in Q4, ahead of Latvia’s Baumanis and France’s Sebastien Loeb. In the Intermediate Classification after Q2, Hansen is second, Solberg is third with Norway’s Andreas Bakkerud fourth, Kristoffersson is fifth and Sweden’s Kevin Hansen sixth. 

Sweden’s Johan Kristoffersson has won the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship  with two rounds still remaining.  PSRX Volkswagen Sweden [Kristoffersson and team-mate Petter Solberg] has also won the teams’ championship after a dominant season with its pair of Volkswagen Polo GTi Supercars.
 
Kristoffersson took his fifth event win – and ninth podium – in a row at the Neste World RX of Latvia in Riga this weekend extending his commanding lead at the top of the driver standings to 62 points [60 points remain over the final two events of the season].  PSRX Volkswagen Sweden also leave Latvia with a 112-point advantage in the teams’ championship – a big enough gap over Team Peugeot-Hansen to guarantee VW the team trophy.
 
Meanwhile, Kristoffersson’s team-mate Petter Solberg was involved in a collision on turn one of today’s second semi-final which saw the race red-flagged.  The Norwegian was taken to hospital for precautionary checks where x-rays later revealed that Solberg had broken his collarbone.
 
EKS driver Mattias Ekstrom finished runner-up at today’s race in Latvia, while Team Peugeot-Hansen’s Sebastien Loeb rounded out the podium.  In the final round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars, it was Anton Marklund in his Volkswagen Polo who was crowned the 2017 Euro RX Champion after finishing the five-round season 28 points ahead of runner-up Thomas Bryntesson in his Ford Fiesta.

Tamas Pal Kiss [Peugeot 208] ends the year in third place. Robin Larsson finished second in Euro RX today at the wheel of his Audi A1 and is fourth in the end-of-year standings.
 
“This feels fantastic and to win five races in a row is just amazing,” beamed 28-year-old Kristoffersson – only the third ever World RX Champion [after Solberg in 2014/2015 and Ekstrom in 2016]. This is something that I’ve been working towards since 2013 and I think it will take a lot time to sink in.”
 
Kristoffersson credited his team-mate [Solberg], his father [Tommy] and the PSRX Volkswagen Team for his victory.  The Swede took up the story: “I followed my father when he was racing – he has been to almost every race with me since and we have always worked well as a family team. PSRX VW Sweden is a similar family set-up with Petter and Pernilla at the helm and so we fitted in perfectly there. "

"Petter is an excellent team-mate – we are both nerds in that we look into every detail.  We put pressure each other and I took advantage of his excellent knowledge. He really let me in and I want to thank him and the rest of our team for all of their help.”
 
On winning the title, Kristoffersson concluded: “I wasn’t prepared to become World Champion this weekend – and I didn’t really think about it until Petter didn’t make the final. It was only then that I thought it could be possible. I am such a competitive person and I always wanted to become World Champion, it is a dream come true. I can’t thank everyone enough for this incredible moment.”
 
Runner-up Ekstrom was first to congratulate the new World RX Champion. “I always think the best man deserves to win and Johan has proved that he is the best driver on the track this year,” admitted the 2016 World RX Champion and two-time DTM Champion. 
 
Ekstrom added: “I’ve known Johan since he was really small – I have a lot of respect for him and I can see that much of Johan’s fighting spirit comes from his dad, Tommy.  I didn’t really feel that that I could give them a hard battle for the win here. "

"Now we will just try to continue the battle with Sebastien [Loeb] to see who can finish second or third in the drivers’ championship [15 points currently separate Solberg, Ekstrom and Loeb in the standings]. As for this weekend, we had four Audis in the semi-finals, which was fantastic.  Topi [Heikkien] was unlucky in the semi-finals but all in all we had a very strong weekend.”
 
Frenchman Loeb celebrated today with his fifth consecutive podium in RX.  The nine-time WRC Champion commented: “We struggled a bit yesterday but then found the right set-up overnight and finished qualifying with a win in Q4 after some incredible speed.  Today was a great day and again I am on the podium, which is a great feeling.  Well done to Johan – he really deserves the World Championship title – he has had a great season with no mistakes so congratulations to him.”
 
Hoonigan Racing Division’s Andreas Bakkerud finished fourth this weekend – the Norwegian making a slow start off the line on today’s final but setting fast lap times to make his way up to fourth. 

Home favourite Janis Baumanis delighted the home crowds, the Latvian STARD driver fought closely with Bakkerud and DTM star Nico Mueller throughout the final. Baumanis eventually finished fifth.  In only his second World RX appearance, EKS driver Muller ended the event sixth overall.
 
Latvian World RX star Reinis Nitiss [EKS] made the semi-finals in front of his passionate home fans but failed to make it through to the final race after losing time behind Timmy Hansen who was slowed due to a rear-left puncture.

Overnight leader Topi Heikkinen suffered a broken driveshaft in the semi-finals, dashing the Finn’s hopes of a spot in the final. Elsewhere, the Austrian MJP Racing squad did a heroic job of repairing Timo Scheider’s car overnight after the Ford Fiesta caught fire during Saturday’sQ1.
 
The penultimate round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600 saw Hungary’s Krisztian Szabo take the win in his Skoda Fabia.  Janno Ligur and Jussi-Petteri Leppihalme finished second and third respectively. Home hero Artis Baumanis finished second in semi-final one but a throttle problem with his Skoda Fabia meant he was unable to start the final.  Szabo now leads Baumanis in the S1600 standings by 12 points.

The penultimate round of the 2017 World RX Championship will move to Germany in two weeks’ time as the FIA-sanctioned series prepares for more rallycross action at the Estering.  Germany RX will also mark the final round of the S1600 Championship.

Sebastian Eriksson will contest this weekend’s World RX of Germany at the Estering (28/29 September) behind the wheel of a Bluebeam-sponsored Ford Fiesta Supercar run by Swedish powerhouse Olsbergs MSE.
 
Eriksson has spent the 2017 campaign competing in Global Rallycross in the United States and currently sits fourth in the standings ahead of next month’s season finale in Los Angeles.
 
The Swede did, however, make a ‘wildcard’ appearance in the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Höljes in Sweden back in July, impressing by making it through to the semi-final stage amongst the 22 high-calibre contenders and only missing out on a slot in the final by a scant half-a-second.
 
Now, Eriksson is ready to return, and eager to test his mettle once more against the very crème de la crème of international rallycross talent.
 
“I’m really looking forward to competing in Germany this weekend in my Bluebeam Ford Fiesta,” enthused the 24-year-old. “It will be my first time racing at the track – I’ve seen it during a test session, but I didn’t get the chance to actually drive it myself. It looks fun – a real old-school rallycross circuit with a lot of gravel and some technical corners.
 
“It was useful to get some experience of the Fiesta at Höljes earlier this year. It handles slightly differently to the Honda Civic I’m used to driving in America, but it gave me the opportunity to get to grips with it a bit, which means we should be able to hit the ground running at the Estering and I’m confident it will prove to be a strong track for the car.
 
“Höljes also allowed me to gauge the current level of competition in World Rallycross, which is extremely high – since my previous outing in the World Championship in Sweden back in 2014, the calibre of drivers, teams and cars has increased significantly.
 
“The goal will be to progress through to the semi-finals, as we did in Sweden. It will be tough to reach the final, I think, but if we have a clean run, it certainly isn’t impossible – so let’s see what we can do.”

Finland’s Topi Heikkinen was the quickest driver in Q2 at the World RX of Latvia, round ten of the FIA World Rallycross Championship and is TQ (top qualifier) at the end of Saturday’s action. 

EKS’s Heikkinen won Q2 race four as rain hit the Bikernieki National Sports Base circuit.

Norway’s Andreas Bakkerud just beat France’s Sebastien Loeb to the race win race three in a dash to the finish line and was second quickest with Loeb third overall.

Q1 winner Johan Kristoffersson finished race four behind Heikkinen and Mattias Ekstrom. Reigning World RX Champion Ekstrom was fourth, Sweden’s Timmy Hansen was fifth and Kristoffersson set sixth overall time. 

“It was a really good day for us, especially in Q2 when we won,” said Heikkinen.

“We’ve been making really good starts and I had a really good car on the track. It was really nice to drive and I’m really thankful to the team that they gave me that kind of car."

"We still have a long way to go, but I feel that we have a really good car for this track and all four drivers have done a really good job so I think we have a chance tomorrow." He added

"We need to do our best, I would prefer it to be wet tomorrow, it seems like our car is a bit better in the wet but let’s see.” 

America’s Ken Block had a first corner spin but Norway’s Petter Solberg had even bigger problems, breaking his Volkswagen Polo’s left rear suspension during the race and was 17^th.

MJP Racing Team Austria were unable to start with Timo Schieder’s car after the fire damage caused in Q1. The team are working to repair it in time for Q3 tomorrow morning.