Money in the bank

For Timur Timerzyanov not to have won the Swedish round of the European Rallycross Championship would have been a disaster; the Russian entered the event  as the points leader and with two wins to his name already. With leading rivals missing this weekend, the Swedish event represented a great chance to win and start the second half of the year with the strongest possible hand. It was by no means an easy win, the changeable weather conditions served to deliver an thoroughly unpredictable A final grid and with the track drying but still slippery, Timerzyanov survived a second lap slip that saw him briefly passed by pole starter Stig-Olov Walfridson to take the win.

Walfridson dropped some ground after the tussle, PG Andersson climbing to second before being forced to park his Skoda Fabia in the last lap with a driveline problem. Peter Hedström had progressed from the B final and ran strongly throughout the A, eventually taking second for his best finish of the year to date. Walfridson came home third, holding onto the place under a last corner attack from Alexander Hvaal. Michael De Keersmaecker, Mats Öhman (in his first ERC A final and also up from the B) and Morten Bermingrud completed the finishers.

The B final came to the grid and would have run its distance had Svein Roger Andersen not jumped the start. While that was being sorted out Kevin Procter protested the black flag received in the C final. The entire B final grid was then sent away while the protest was heard, Procter winning it and being reinstated in fourth place, a result that had absolutely no bearing on the B final. When reconvened, the B final grid was minus Andersen and the field further reduced when Guttorm Lindefjell who had won the C final, stopped in the first lap. Further round the first lap Jean-Luc Pailler (who was second in the C final) spun and was collected by Mats Lysen, both cars out on the spot. With Frank Valle running only front-drive on his Fiesta and Daniel Holten struggling with driveline problems in his Volvo, the top two places were gifted to Hedström and Öhman.

Making the best possible response to the penalty imposed in the previous weekend’s Norwegian event (where he was reclassified from first to second place), Ulrik Linnemann took a convincing win in the Super1600 A final, leading from the start and leading home Jussi-Petteri Leppihalme and Krzysztof Skorupski. After the race the young Dane revealed the ace up his sleeve that he said had helped the win (see pictures below). On a track that he knows better than any other, Robin Larsson proved himself beyond any doubt, taking on and beating Lars Øivind Enerberg in a straight race. Anton Marklund was not really in touch with the lead battle, but brought his Fiesta home third, doing a good job for his title campaign. Finn Jari Järvenpää took fourth in the ex G&A racing BMW 1, B final Derek Tohill rising to fifth. There was also a protest surrounding the B final result here, Koen Pauwels crossing the finish line first but simultaneously being shown the black flag. Unlike Procter his protest was rejected.

Only two cars made it to the grid for the JRX final, Kevin Hansen managing to get the finish line ahead of Ada Marie Hvaal before his car broke down, at which point Hvaal drove into the back of him!

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