Timmy Hansen, the son of 14-times ERC winner Kenneth Hansen, made the first day of the new FIA European Rallycross Championship his by claiming both, the first and the second qualifying heats.
The first day of the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship (RX) got underway today at Lydden Hill in Great Britain. Timmy Hansen led the SuperCar pack after the opening two heats. The young Swede, and Hansen Motorsport driver started just his third SuperCar race, and amazingly went fastest in both the first and second heats to earn first place overall. The Swede put in some sublime performances, and like his father produced consecutively quick lap times. His team-mate and reigning champion Timur Timerzyanov was placed second.
The day began with Practice laps at 12:30. SuperCars, Super1600s and TouringCars briskly drove laps of Lydden Hill, in bitterly cold conditions. Snow attempted to fall all morning, although things soon heated up upon the arrival of the first group of cars in the 20 minute practice session.
In the new system cars were released from a dummy grid and took four lap sessions. Competitors were allowed to complete in as many runs as they wanted in 20 minutes.
Alexander Hvaal recorded the fastest time in the first free practice session, alongside Ulrik Linnemann and David Nordgård in their respective classes.
The SuperCar first heat played out as follows:
Race 1 was won by Liam Doran.
Race 2 was won by Timmy Hansen,who passed race leader Alexander Hvaal during his Joker Lap.
Race 3 was won by Timur Timerzyanov, action in the race surrounded Petter Solberg’s 30-second time penalty for a jump-start.
Race 4 was won by Petter’s older brother Henning Solberg.
After the first heat, Timmy Hansen was classified as fastest driver, followed by Alexander Hvaal, Timur Timerzyanov, Henning Solberg, and Jussi-Petteri Leppihalme.
In the Super1600 class, heat one finished as follows: Erik Färén, Kevin Eriksson, Ildar Rakhmatullin, Ulrik Linnemann and Vadim Makarov.
In the TouringCars Robin Larsson went fastest ahead of Roman Častoral, Koen Pauwels and David Nordgård.
After a disastrous first heat, due to problems with his clutch, Petter Solberg returned to form claiming a race win and a second fastest time, although still marginally slower than Timmy Hansen. American Tanner Foust was also rapid. Claiming third fastest ahead of reigning champ, Timur Timerzyanov.
16-year-old Kevin Eriksson tops the Super1600 category. The offspring of OMSE boss Andréas Eriksson has stormed onto the scene in his European Rallycross debut. The Set Promotion driver gained a second fastest time behind Eric Färén in heat one, then fastest in heat two. Team Principal Jussi Pinomäki was more than pleased with the youngsters performance. “He has made a great start. After just looking back at the in-car cameras I can see that he made very few mistakes, but of course he still has a lot to learn, and a very large learning curve. This is just the beginning for him”, said Pinomäki.
Koen Pauwels leads the TouringCars after day one. Although Robin Larsson gained the fastest time in heat one and Norwegian David Nordgård fastest in heat two.
The action continues tomorrow, and with all classes still wide open in this new championship format everything is to play for. The ERC24 team will be back with more updates and news.
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Situation in ‘SuperCars’ after Day 1 here.
Situation in ‘Super1600s’ after Day 1 here.
Situation in ‘TouringCars’ after Day 1 here.
