Russian Rallycross driver Timur Timerzyanov took the lead of the FIA European Rallycross Championship last weekend, held at Montalegre in Portugal.
Timur Timerzyanov leads championship after round two.
The Red Bull athlete was third fastest in both of the first two heats before going fastest of all in heats three and four to line up on pole position for the first semi-final, where he took a brilliant win from lights to flag. Sharing the front row of the final with 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg, Timerzyanov made the better start and lead for the first laps, until the Citroën DS3 got a front right puncture, cruelly ruling him out of a chance to fight for victory.
Timerzyanov finished the race, and left the event with the championship lead, ahead of Frenchman Davy Jeanney and team mate Timmy Hansen. “I am pleased with the pace from me and the car, but I am disappointed about the result in the final. We have been unlucky this year so far with punctures, hopefully I won’t have another one for a long time now.”
“Timur is much happier than he was at Lydden Hill, but again he faced problems out of his control in the final. He and the car were going really well and had winning speed , but that’s motorsport, he will come back and win again soon I’m sure”, said team principal Kenneth Hansen. The final in Montalegre was won by Englishman Liam Doran ahead of the two Norwegians Mats Lysen and Petter Solberg. The European Rallycross Championship next heads to Nyriád in Hungary on May 25 and 26, a venue at which Timerzyanov took victory last season and will be hoping to repeat that feat in just over three weeks time.
Hvaal’s performance and the team’s championship points haul saved the weekend.
It was a roller coaster weekend for Hansen Motorsport with many highs and lows in Portugal at the second round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship. Norwegian driver Alexander Hvaal finished best of the SuperCar trio with a fine fourth place in the SuperCar final. Alexander staged a fantastic recovery after a disappointing qualification performance and managed to progress from a last row start position in the semi-final to finish in third place and thus elevate himself to the final. A committed performance in the final achieved his best drive of the weekend and third position only eluded him by metres. “An excellent result for Alexander which was much deserved as he never gave up and fought to the end”, comments Kenneth Hansen.
Timur Timerzyanov won the intermediate classification scoring the maximum 16 championship points. He also won the semi-final taking him to pole position in the final. Petter Solberg, joining him on the front row of the grid, jump started and had to take the Joker Lap twice. In the restart Timur lead into the first corner followed by Solberg. On the second lap Timur was a second ahead of the Norwegian. Unfortunately he collected a puncture which put paid to his chances of victory and he was placed last in the final. Englishman Liam Doran came through and won the final followed by the two Norwegians Mats Lysen and Petter Solberg. Alexander Hvaal was on Solberg’s tail and took fourth position. Davy Jeanney came home in fifth place.
Swede Eric Färén (Citroën C2) in the Super1600 category finished second in the final behind another promising young Swede, Kevin Eriksson. Eric is now second of the overall standings in Super1600, 45 points to Ulrik Linnemann’s 46.
Timmy Hansen learns in Portugal, and sits third in the championship table.
Timmy Hansen came away from the second round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship sitting in third place in the championship standings. Hansen, who is in only his second event as a full time Rallycross driver had never seen the circuit before the team arrived at the event. “I had watched a lot of videos and footage of the circuit and I put a lot of effort into learning as much as I could before I came here”, said Hansen.
The Cooper Tyres supported driver felt good in free practice, but that there was more to come from both himself and the car. Heat one was a lottery however, in unexpectedly snowy conditions for the time of year, Hansen missed his braking point for the first corner of the race, loosing time. “The snow was very hard and the track was very slippery. The second heat was the opposite, we had a wet set-up but the circuit dried very fast and there was nothing we could do to change it. Then I got held up in traffic really badly and it spoilt my time.”
Sunday brought better things for the Hansen Motorsport driver, who set third fastest time in the third heat. Hansen was on for the same result again in heat four until his car developed a technical issues, causing him to slow on the last lap. Qualifying for the second semi-final, Hansen fought hard in a closely contested battle, finishing fourth and taking home ten championship points to add to his tally. “This weekend was tough, but you have those in motorsport and we have learnt a huge amount. I didn’t make any big mistakes and the lap times were good. The semi-final was very competitive. I am looking forward to Hungary, I think it is a track that I will suit my style more”, he said.
