The first day of the Norwegian FIA World Rallycross Championship round at the Lånkebanen in Hell saw Swede Timmy Hansen and his French team-mate Davy Jeanney claiming the first two places of the overnight standings while Russian Timur Timerzyanov holds third place.
Sweden’s Timmy Hansen is leading this weekend’s World RX of Norway, round eight of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, after an impressive drive at the wheel of his Peugeot 208 SuperCar. It is the third event in a row that Hansen has led the World RX drivers after day one. Frenchman Davy Jeanney is second in Team Peugeot-Hansen’s second car, while Russia’s Timur Timerzyanov is third in an Olsbergs MSE prepared Ford Fiesta Mk7 SuperCar.
After a victory in Heat 1 and a bad run in Heat 2 Petter Solberg is currently 7th. © JKR/ERC24
Before the event started Petter Solberg was awarded the honorary citizenship of the Stjørdal community. © JKR/ERC24
Home favourites Petter Solberg and Andreas Bakkerud are currently 7th and 11th respectively. Solberg was quickest in free practice and took the heat one victory over Jeanney who finished second. The reigning Champion’s luck ran out in heat two, however, when Solberg suffered a puncture after clipping a kerb in his Citroën DS3 SuperCar. Bakkerud fought back after a double Joker Lap penalty for a false-start in heat one to finish the second heat fourth quickest.
Timur Timerzyanov is currently in third place, the Russian is on his way up. © JKR/ERC24
Homeboy Tommy Rustad is in the lead of the European Rallycross Championship regulars. © JKR/ERC24
Overnight leader Hansen summarised his day: “The car is really flying at the moment. It’s not that this track suits me better than others, but it’s down to the car, it really feels so good at the moment. It was a bit difficult to find the rhythm first thing but then we got it right for the second practice. We’ve worked on finding some small ways to improve the car, and it’s staring to pay off with with the lap times. In the last heat, I took the Joker on the first lap and Davy took it at the end. I could see him in front all the time – he was really quick. I had to drive so hard to catch up and it was flat out for both of us.”
The Lånkebanen at Hell is for the second time host of a World Rallycross Championship round. © JKR/ERC24
Henning Solberg is doing his home World RX round in a Ford Fiesta Mk7 ST SuperCar and is 8th after Day 1. © JKR/ERC24
Team Volkswagen Sweden driver Johan Kristoffersson is fourth after a solid run through today’s heats. Team Principal Tommy Kristoffersson spoke of his relief after the team’s misfortunes in Canada: “We can’t quite match the pace of the Peugeots, but we’re going to work on this tomorrow. We’ve had some bad luck this year, but it’s good to be in the top five on a Saturday for a change! There’s a technical glitch with Ole Christian Veiby’s car so we’re looking into the problem now and hope to have it fixed before he goes out tomorrow.”
EKS driver Anton Marklund had his best first day of the season after taking a race win in heat one and ending the day 5th overall. Reinis Nitišs, who won last year’s Norwegian event, is sixth. The Latvian suffered suspension problems in heat one, but the Ford Olsbergs MSE squad worked hard to repair the car before heat two.
Day 1 in Hell had some intense action on offer. Here Mattias Ekström dicing with Peter Hedström… © JKR/ERC24
…and here it is Liam Doran who battles it out with Manfred Stohl. © JKR/ERC24
In the FIA European Rallycross Championship, in which Hell is the third round, it’s Tommy Rustad who leads the charge in his Marklund Motorsport run VW Polo Mk5 SuperCar. “The car feels good, but I’m not so happy with the pace. I think it’s more about the driver, than the car,” admitted Rustad. “Obviously the European Championship is my focus, but I really like fighting with the World Championship guys. I also have 50 guests here this weekend so it’s important to put on a good show for them.”
Marklund Motorsport’s duo Topi Heikkinen and P-G Andersson had a difficult start to the weekend. Heikkinen was forced to change his engine after heat one while Andersson broke a steering arm in the same heat.
Supporting the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Hell this weekend is the final round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship for TouringCars and the fourth round of the RX Lites Cup.
A total of 12 RX Lites drivers had a lot of fun in Norway’s Hell. © JKR/ERC24
In TouringCars Fredrik Salsten needs to finish in the top three at the Intermediate Classification on Sunday to be guaranteed the title before the semi-finals get underway and is second overnight. Mazda RX-8 driver Christian Sandmo was fastest in the opening two heats and third fastest in heat three to be top on Saturday night. Kjetil Larsen is third in his Škoda Fabia.
In the RX Lites Cup, Thomas Bryntesson is top of the standings after three heats. He was fastest in the first two heats and second fastest to Championship leader Kevin Hansen in heat three. Hansen is third overall; he retired from heat two after his car suffered broken rear suspension following contact in the first corner. Hansen’s title rival Kevin Eriksson is second overnight.
SuperCar standings after Day 1.
TouringCar standings after Day 1.
RX Lites standings after Day 1.
More images from WorldRX of Norway to be found here.
Top photo: Team Peugeot-Hansen has claimed the first two places of the overnight standings. © JKR/ERC24