After reigning World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg had finished Day 1 of the WorldRX of Hockenheim event in sixth position today the Norwegian fought back in style, made both Heat 3 and Heat 4 his and is now in the lead of the Intermediate Classification.
Day 2 started at 16:10 with a Warm-Up session, soon followed by Heat 3. As the track was dry the times were much faster than on Friday. Petter Solberg set the fastest time with 3:02.669 minutes, followed by Johan Kristoffersson (3:02.903m) and Reinis Nitišs (3:03.254m). Tanner Foust (3:04.370m) produced another good run, beating the times of Davy Jeanney (3:05.379m) and Robin Larsson (3:05.600m) to claim a fine fourth place.
Johan Kristoffersson set himself in the limelight once more and is currently in fourth place overall. © JKR/ERC24
The gravel sections of the track, situated between the ‘Sachskurve’ and the ‘Südkurve’, produce spectacular action. © JKR/ERC24
Heat 4 saw Petter Solberg flying to the fastest qualification time of the weekend, his 3:02.302 minutes ensured him the lead of the Intermediate Classification. Andreas Bakkerud (3:03971m) made it to second fastest, followed by his teammate Reinis Nitišs (3:04.096m) in third position. Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen (3:04.156m) had his best Hockenheim run yet, his fourth time ensured him place nine so far. Fifth fastest was his teammate Per-Gunnar ‘P-G’ Andersson (3:04.488m), while Robin Larsson (3:04.766m) completed the fastest half-a-dozen here.
American Tanner Foust is looking forward to qualify with the Marklund Motorsport VW Polo for the Final. © JKR/ERC24
After this barrel roll in Heat 4 the Hockenheim weekend came to an end for Russian Timur Timerzyanov. © JKR/ERC24
“It’s been a fantastic day for us with two heat wins, a track record and 16 World Championship points,” grinned Solberg. “It didn’t get off to the best start for us yesterday, but then everything has been getting better and better. I think we put on a good show for the DTM fans too, they love the Rallycross action and have been saying how exciting the racing is!”
Timur Timerzyanov was in the lead of his race and en route to a fast time when clipping a tyre wall to barrel roll his Ford Fiesta one time. I didn’t take the Russian much long realise what happened and to continue his drive, but when he reached the chequered flag with the 18th time his weekend was over and out. Timerzyanov later: “The guys asked me to be tighter into the corner, but I went too tight and rolled the car. They asked on the radio if the car could drive and it did, so I just continued to drive as fast as possible.”
Many spectators watched the Rallycross action in the DTM venue, but the hope is for a bigger crowd tomorrow. © JKR/ERC24
With his second fastest time in Heat 4 Andreas Bakkerud qualified for starting line two of Semi-Final 1. © JKR/ERC24
Tomorrow morning the WorldRX of Hockenheim round will continue at 11:25 CEST with the Semi-Finals and the Final. If no problems occure all will be over after just one hour of time. Both SDRX teammates Petter Solberg and Liam Doran are going to start Semi-Final 1 from the front row, while Reinis Nitišs and Johan Kristoffersson are sharing the first starting row of the Semi-Final 2 grid.
Standings after Day 2 to be found here.
More images of WorldRX of Hockenheim to be found here.
Top photo: Reigning Champ Petter Solberg claimed both the fastest times of Heat 3 and Heat 4. © JKR/ERC24