Bakkerud tops Lydden Hill World Rallycross

Norwegian youngster Andreas Bakkerud heads a pair of Marklund Motorsport VW Polos at the top of the day one order in the second round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill, after setting fastest time in the first heat and sixth fastest in the second.

Wildcard entrant Tanner Foust lies in second position ahead of Toomas Heikkinen. Round one winner Petter Solberg is fourth overnight, the former WRC champion was fastest in heat two but stalled on the start line of heat one and was only able to set 12th fastest time. Drive of the day has to go to Swede Robin Larsson in his new Audi A1. The former TouringCar event winner made his Supercar debut at the opening round of RallyX Scandinavia last week and impressed, but in one of the strongest ever rallycross fields at Lydden this weekend he was fifth fastest in heat one and third in heat two to sit fifth overall and top European Championship runner. Team Peugeot-Hansen worked hard during the day to perfect the setup of their 208’s, Timur Timerzyanov finishing the day sixth ahead of team mate Timmy Hansen in seventh.

As expected by most, BTCC star Andrew Jordan was quick on his rallycross return, on what was also his 25th birthday. Jordan is eighth overnight and second OlsbergsMSE car, Renis Nitiss just one place behind in ninth. Liam Doran entered the Lydden event hoping for a better time than in Portugal, but a stall on the start of heat one was followed by what would have been a good time in heat two until mechanical troubles slowed his Citroen on the final lap. Team mate Skorupski failed to finish race one, while Derek Tohill continued on his form from Portugal and is 15th. Ollie O’Donovan was black flagged in his heat one race after contact but failed to start heat two with engine troubles. Fellow British championship runner Julian Godfrey was fastest in the first practice runs but was thwarted by a puncture in the first heat. Norwegian Frode Holte was another to finish his heat one race but not make it out for the second, his Hyundai i20 suffered a broken oil line and the following engine bay fire after the finish line did too much damage for the car to return for heat two.

Super1600 and TouringCar contested their four heat races today, Skoda Fabia driver Sergji Zagumennov continuing his form from Portugal to head the Super1600 order. Ulrik Linnemann lies second with Nikita Misyulyia in third. German driver Andreas Steffen had a good run to fifth place at the Intermediate Classification. TouringCar is topped by European Championship newcomer Kjetil Larsen ahead of 2013 event winner Daniel Lundh. Fredrik Salsten had a spin in the first corner of heat two and hit the Chessens barrier. Despite heavy damage to the rear of his Citroen DS3, he made it to the finish.

Sebastien Eriksson leads American Michael De Jong in the RX Lites Cup division, ahead of Kevin Erikksson. Former Formula One Nelson Piqeut Jr makes his rallycross debut in Europe this weekend and lies fifth after the first three heats.

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