The European Rallycross Championship kick-off saw a positive start, but the Set Promotion Team fall short of a top result.
After its impressive start, Set Promotion have successful Super1600 final outing, although fall short of team victory in the final at the first round of the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship.
Three out of four Set Promotion racers made it to the final. Ildar Rakhmatullin (Renault Twingo Mk2) won the second semi-final and was allowed to start the final from the front row while Timur Shigaboutdinov (Renault Twingo Mk2) and Reinis Nitišs (Renault Clio Mk2) were on the second and third row. Other qualifiers were first semi-final winner Eric Färén (Citroën C2) together with Ulrik Linnemann and Vadim Makarov (Škoda Fabia Mk2).
Linnemann took the final win with relative ease after he passed through the Joker Lap section early in the race. Makarov and Färén were the other podium finishers while the latter is leading the championship after the first event (26 points) ahead of Rakhmatullin (23 points) and first round winner Linnemann (22 points). Although the result wasn’t what the team had aimed for, Team Principal retains his confidence in the points scored over the weekend for the time.
Team Principal Jussi Pinomäki: “The points scoring system is quite different compared to the previous years so it isn’t as bad as it feels. For sure we didn’t get the result from the final that we wanted: so 4th, 5th and 6th is petty disappointing. We feel that we had the chance to win and I think Rakhmatullin had the win in his hands having taken the Joker and leading, but mistakes he made I don’t think he accepts them, but that is how Rallycross is, it can be tough. Positively we had 3 out of the 4 cars in the top six which we need to be satisfied with, as we aimed to have all four cars in the A Final.”
Young star Kevin Eriksson was perhaps one of the weekend’s success stories. Kevin dominated with fast times on day one, and continued his attack on heat leader Eric Färén. Kevin Eriksson made his European Rallycross debut at Lydden Hill, and it culminated in massive highs and incredible lows for the 16-year-old Swede. Second fastest in the first heat was followed by fastest time in the second heat.
However, the start of heat three spelt trouble the youngster. A fast start was immediately followed by contact with Eric Färén. As Eriksson’s Renault Clio Mk2 left the ground it carried momentum, rolling over and hitting Vadim Makrov in the process, the car eventually coming to rest on its side. Eriksson was unhurt in the incident, but his Set Promotion run Clio looked a little worse for wear. Back in the paddock the Set Promotion team soon got to work to get the car ready for the semi-final.
Pinomäki: “Kevin was amazingly fast on Sunday, he had bad luck in the first heat crash and then he had an electric failure in the race after that which we didn’t find, even though we were 100% sure that we found it – we even drove the car around the paddock before the semi-final to check and everything was fine, and then when he drove out to the semi-final the car stopped and had no power again – that is annoying and I’m really, really sorry for him as he didnt get to end his race as he had started.”
“But I think he impressed many people this weekend and showed what he is as a sixteen year old boy, but maybe also that is one of the reasons why I feel so bad for him, that he didn’t get the chance to show what he can do in the final,” expressed Pinomäki. “Overall, the result is not as bad as it looked, Färén has a lead now in the championship, and we just need to work really hard before Portugal to get back on top again and we will see what happens there,” stated the Set Promotion Team Principal. The Set Promotion team will now head to Portugal, for the second round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship.
Photo: Timur Shigaboutdinov finished highest of the four Set Promotion drivers, but just missed the podium. © JKR/ERC24