Eriksson wins RallyX Nordic in Arvika

An Eriksson in an OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta won the fourth round of the RallyX Nordic Championship at Arvika, but it wasn’t championship leader and triple 2015 winner Kevin but namesake and reigning champion Sebastien who claimed the spoils at the penultimate event of the year. Eriksson led the final from start to finish while Eric Faren finished second in a Hansen Talent Development Peugeot 208 and Lukas Walfridson (Renault Clio) completed the podium. Rallycross veteran Per Eklund raced his team’s VW Beetle on its second outing and finished fourth ahead of Kevin Eriksson who suffered a broken driveshaft in the final and Tomas Andersson (BMW 1 Series). The event was run together with Supercars from the Norwegian Championship, where Frode Holte (Ford Focus) won with Stian Hafsengen (Ford Focus) second and Morten Bermingrud (Ford Focus) third. Thomas Bryntesson won the RallyX Nordic Lites category ahead of Oliver Eriksson and Tobias Brink.

The fourth round of the Estonian Rallycross Championship took place at Poltsamaa, where European Super1600 leader Janis Baumanis debuted a brand new Ford Fiesta Supercar for the Reinsalu Sport team, and won ahead of Rickardo Bortkevitd (Mitsubishi Evo) and Oliver Oberg (Subaru Impreza). Andri Oun (Ford Fiesta) retired from the final. The result extends Baumanis’ lead at the top of the championship standings. “I started the day carefully to get a feeling with the new car and to feel how it is to drive on this type of track where 90% is slippery gravel and only 10% tarmac,” said Baumanis. “The rain made it really difficult for all drivers, because the perfect line on the inside was full with water and not drivable, so you needed to use outside line with big slides. In last lap of the final I got a puncture, but it didn’t stop me crossing the finish line first.”

Former Subaru WRC driver Chris Atkinson is targeting a drive in the FIA World Rallycross Championship next season. The Australian has signed for UK management company Roots, who are working with Atkinson on a programme for 2016.

The seventh round of World RX takes place in Trois-Rivieres, Canada this weekend. On Thursday evening, the cars and drivers headed to a downtown event on the edge of the St. Lawrence River, where Vaughn Gittin Jr performed for the crowds in his Mustang. The first heat draw for the event was also held on the downtown event’s stage, where the stars of the show included local drivers Patrick Carpentier and L-P Dumoulin.

The entry list for the Norwegian round of the World Rallycross Championship in Hell has been announced, where the European Championship re-joins the World RX line-up. In the World RX section of the event, Henning Solberg will move to an OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta, while competitor Daniel Holten will also compete in World RX for the second time this season in the Eklund Motorsport Volkswagen Beetle. The third round of Euro RX takes place in Norway, where a selection of regulars and local drivers will compete.

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