Liam Doran won the Norwegian round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship in Hell, after a fierce battle with Petter Solberg in Heat 3 and a rather poor tenth place in the Intermediate Classification.
Day 2 in Hell started with bad news from the camp of Mats Lysen. While preparing for the warm-up session the team found the new 5-cylinder engine without oil pressure. After a lot of examination the problem was discovered in a defective filter, but there was no spare one available at the venue. By missing a part that would cost less than 10 Euros Lysen Motorsport had to throw in the towel early.
Qualification:
The hottest action was the fierce battle Liam Doran vs Petter Solberg in Heat 3. Solberg had a perfect Saturday record and started the Sunday with the fastest time in warm-up. Second fastest was his compatriot Tommy Rustad, Englishman Doran set the third fastest time here. In Race 5 both Citroën DS3 drivers met to battle it out. Petter Solberg later: “I kept my line, but was smacked into by Doran in the first corner. Not a nice thing to do! My front suspension is broken. We are down to fifth total before the last heat.” The whole affair ended with Solberg finishing in 23rd place, Doran found himself as 18th fastest on the time-keeper’s list. Having not enough time to repair all the damage from Heat 3 properly “Hollywood” went into Heat 4 knowing that his car could possibly break again, and so it did. On his way to another fast time Petter found himself all of a sudden without his steering. He pressed on regardless, but, after an additional spin, reached the chequered flag with the 20th fastest time to become the 13th of the Intermediate Classification. As only the 12 best drivers are qualified for the Semi-Finals the weekend was over for Norway’s superstar.
Fastest of Heat 3 was Tommy Rustad in the former Hunsbedt Volvo C30/4, second place went to Timmy Hansen. These two were so far the only drivers who scored a time under 2.46 minutes. Andreas Bakkerud was in good form again, driving his DS3 to the third fastest time to remain in the lead of the Intermediate Classification. Norwegian Tord Linnerud, a former rally driver who earlier this year has started a comeback in the Norwegian SuperNationals series, impressed a lot by setting the fourth fastest time. After a several years long break from racing Linnerud was entrusted for Hell with the 4-cylinder Clio of Mats Lysen and did quite a good job in the 550+bhp strong SuperCar. In Heat 4 he jumped the start and was send into a second Joker Lap, but his eighth place after qualification proved that here is someone who knows how to drive a car fast. However, in Semi-Final 2 the event was over for Linnerud, a fifth place here resulted in tenth place of the event results with 11 championship points to his tally.
In Heat 4 that man Andreas Bakkerud was really flying over his home soil. With 2.43.327 minutes he set the fastest qualification time of the whole weekend. Thereby he was almost two seconds faster than Frenchman Davy Jeanney, who made it to second fastest here. Liam Doran claimed the third fastest time, his ticket for the Semi-Finals. Non-finishers of Heat 4 were the two Norwegians Knut Ove Børseth and Henning Solberg as well as Scotland based Englishman Andy Scott (due to broken front left suspension of his Peugeot 208).
Finals:
Semi-Final 1 saw Andreas Bakkerud on pole, Swede Anton Marklund sharing the front row with the Norwegian. Timmy Hansen jumped the first start attempt and, therefore, was told to do two Joker Laps instead of one. “I qualified for the Semi-Final, but a hydraulic pressure problem made the clutch unable to work as it should at the start and the car crept forward, so I jumped the start. Then at the re-start I lost a lot of ground on those ahead of me, on top of having to take the Joker Lap twice for jumping the start,” said Hansen, who despite all still caught up to the pack by the end of the last lap. Timur Timerzyanov was leading the race for several laps, but was beaten by Bakkerud to second place in the last lap. Third and last man towards the Final was Alexander Hvaal, while Anton Marklund lost his ticket to the Final due to a defective gearbox in the VW Polo Mk5.
Semi-Final 2 had Tommy Rustad as pole sitter, Davy Jeanney was on his left side. The Frenchman took the lead, but was eventually beaten to the finnish line by Liam Doran. Third and last driver with access to the Final was Peter Hedström while Tommy Rustad had to retire his Volvo C30/4 with broken steering, as a result to an infight with the Swedish Škoda Fabia campaigner. Hedström is now back in his 2012 Mk2 Fabia, the ex-Michael Jernberg car, so far used this year by Knut Ove Børseth.
The two teammates Andreas Bakkerud, on pole, and Liam Doran were sharing the front row of the all decisive Final. The Brit won the chase towards the first corner, but there went into the Joker Lap detour. Bakkerud was in the lead till being faced with a puncture, first losing first position to Davy Jeanney and then dropping further down the order. When the Frenchman played his Joker in the last lap both Liam Doran and Timur Timerzyanov were close enough to pass the Citroën C4 driver to make it a DS3 one-two. While Peter Hedström had to retire his Fabia with engine troubles when he was in second position, Hansen Motorsport member Alexander Hvaal reached chequers as fourth. Liam Doran later: “I’m over the moon. I’m young, I like to win. Go hard, or go home, I really didn’t want to come second today.” Timur Timerzyanov after the Final: “I have enough of second places now. Three times second in three races, I want to win again. Maybe from Höljes on…” Alexander Hvaal on his Facebook: “A bad Final start, the engine went down too low. But I finished a clean race as fourth.”
In the Super1600s category Reinis Nitišs produced a hat-trick by claiming his third consecutive overall victory. Swedish teenager Kevin Eriksson suffered from a puncture, dropping down to the last place while Russian Ildar Rakhmatullin and Dane Ulrik Linneman joined the Latvian winner on the Lånkebanen rostrum.
In TouringCars Lars Øivind Enerberg had his home European round under full control, eventually winning the Final from Irishman Derek Tohill and his fellow Norwegian Anders Bråten. Christian Sandmo, who held third place for a while, had to give up since the front suspension of his Citroën Xsara did not last for all the way to the finish.
The racing of the JRX Cup series happened already on Friday and Saturday, 13 years old Swede William Nilsson won his third event in a row.
More pictures to be found in our Gallery here.
Official SuperCars final results to be found here.
Official Super1600s final results to be found here.
Official TouringCars final results to be found here.
Day 2 video highlights.
