Timerzyanov top after first day of World Rallycross

The first day of the new FIA World Rallycross Championship is done. Much has been made of the new teams and drivers that have embarked on a campaign in the sport to join some of the old guard this season, and it is a combination of the two that head the order after two heats.

Team Peugeot-Hansen finished their new Peugeot 208’s less than a week ago, but it is their double European Championship winning driver Timur Timerzyanov that leads the field, fastest in both of the first two heats despite being initially disqualified from heat two for first corner contact with Petter Solberg, the Russian was later reinstated.

The youngest pairing in the field, Andreas Bakkerud and Reinis Nitiss join Timerzyanov in the top three, while Toomas Heikkinen and Anton Marklund do their bit to make the order look like an entry list and line up fourth and fifth in their Marklund Motorsport VW Polos. Belgian driver Koen Pauwels was one of the surprises of the day, keeping his nose clean in both races to set competitive times and lie sixth overall after day one. Andy Scott had a good run to eight, although a broken exhaust in heat one caused his car to fill with fumes, he still managed to finish the race and set tenth fastest time. Team mate Jacques Villeneuve had an interesting first day of rallycross, out braking himself into the first corner of heat one before getting stuck in traffic, he then picked up a puncture in heat two, but managed to crawl to the finish.

If Timerzanov had a great day in his new 208, team-mate Timmy Hansen had a more frustrating one, hampered by a misfiring engine. Petter Solberg was as fast as ever, but retired with a throttle cable problem on the first lap of heat two. A day of mixed emotion befell the LD Motorsports camp. Derek Tohill completed two heats to increase his Supercar experience significantly, but Kryzsztof Skorupski managed only one lap of heat two having missed heat one altogether. Liam Doran missed heat one with technical troubles and arrived at the grid too late for heat two, missing his race.

In Super1600 Volland Racing cars topped the order with rallycross newboy Nikita Misyulya ahead of more experienced team mate Sergej Zagumennov. Top Set Promotion car is Timur Shigaboutdinov in third, while Danish driver Ulrik Linnemann is fourth, when really he should be leading; fastest in both heats he forgot to take his joker lap in the very first heat of the season.

Daniel Lundh had to work harder than expected in TouringCar, but is still top after two heats, ahead of Torlief Lona and Kjetil Larsen, driving the ex-Robin Larsson Skoda Fabia. The RX Lites category produced some exciting racing, notably in the first heat when Daniel Holten and Kevin Eriksson were held up by Columbian Alejo Fernandez, the pair falling over each other trying to pass the new driver. Experienced Lites driver Sebastien Eriksson is top of the RX Lites field at the end of day one.

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