Solberg wins World Rallycross in Canada

Petter Solberg led the championship standings as the World Rallycross Championship visited it’s first long haul destination of the season, and left Trois-Rivieres in Canada with an increased advantage after a dominant performance.

Solberg started on pole position for the final, having won heats three, four and the semi final, and started alongside Anton Marklund who continues to impress. Marklund made the best initial getaway, but it was Solberg who won the drag race to the first corner, Marklund tucking into second with Timur Timerzyanov in third. Solberg pulled out a margin throughout the race, Marklund and Timerzyanov exchanging places when each took their joker, but the top three would finish as they started, Solberg becoming the first double winning in the championship, Marklund scoring his first ever Supercar podium and Timerzyanov having his best result of the season.

Local man Patrick Carpentier was the top Canadian driver at the event, and qualified for the final after a brilliant semi final encounter that send the crowd wild. He ran fourth in the early stages of the final, but two spins put him out. Renis Nitiss suffered punctures in heats one and two, and qualified thirteenth, which became twelfth and a semi final position when wildcard team mate Joni Wiman withdrew. Nitiss finished fourth in the final, with Toomas Heikkinen in fifth. The Finn finished fourth in his semi final, but third place finisher Timmy Hansen was disqualified for a passing move on Heikkienen, promoting the VW man to the final.

Andreas Bakkerud jumped the start in his semi final, the two joker lap penalty enough to put him out, while Andy Scott made the semis in his Peugeot. Sverre Isachsen returned to the series in his Subaru Impreza but could only finish fifth in semi final one, while Jacques Villeneuve had his best weekend to date to begin with, sixth after heat two, the former F1 champion ripped the fuel tank from the underside of the car in heat three which put him out of the event. Tanner Foust broke a number of driveshafts in practice. With a spare unit in place for the first heat, it broke again and that was Foust’s day run. The American is now considering an appearance at Loheac next month. Sten Oja looked impressive on his debut for the PSRX team despite little running, but he too retired.

The RX Lites category was in Support for the WorldRX Canadian event, and was won by Patrik Sandell. The Swede qualified on the last row of the grid but made a phenomenal start to take second at turn one, which became first later in the race when leader Oliver Eriksson lost a rear wheel on his RX Lites debut. Alongside several other drivers making their debut in the category was French Super1600 driver Julien Febreau, who finished third.

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