Kalliokoski is Finnish champ as Pucher wins in Austria
by Hal Ridge |
The final round of the Finnish Rallycross Championship took place at Tampere, where Aki Karttunen led home Niclas Gronholm in the final, in a last bid to win the title. However, despite Karttunen’s victory, third place in the A final was enough to secure Jere Kalliokoski the Supercar Championship crown by a single point. Atro Maatta finished fourth in the Tampere event with Jussi-Petteri Leppihalme fifth and Kari Irri sixth. In the Supernational category, Jussi Klemola secured the title by finishing second in the last final of the year, while the event was won by Tomi Rakkolainen. Jesse Ylitalo completed the podium.
World RX Team Austria owner and driver Max Pucher won the seventh round of the Austrian Rallycross Championship at Greinbach to move himself back into title contention. Driving the Ford Fiesta Supercar that he will now vacate for FIA World Rallycross Championship driver Timur Timerzyanov to ‘borrow’ for this weekend’s Spanish round of the championship, Pucher won the final in Austria ahead of Alois Holler (Ford Focus) and Jurgen Weiss (Ford Focus). Hungarian Zoltan Simon (Mitsubishi Evo) finished fourth with Gerald Eder (Skoda Fabia) fifth and Tristan Ekker (Volkswagen Polo) sixth. Werner Panhauser (Citroen C2) won the Suepr1600 final almost five second ahead of Dominik Rath (Peugeot 207). Mario Patrakovits (Volkswagen Polo) failed to finish. Oliver Gruber (Ford Sierra) won the SuperTouringCars+ final with Roman Castoral (Opel Astra) claiming victory in the SuperTouringCars- encounter.
The entry list for the tenth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Latvia has been released, which features a return for Italian Gigi Galli with his unique Kia Rio, if the former WRC driver is satisfied with the performance of the car in a test at the Barcelona World RX circuit on Monday (18th September). Guy Wilks and Guerlain Chicherit will both remain with the JRM Racing team for the event. Super1600 driver Janno Ligur will make his World RX debut Ford Fiesta Supercar run by Reinsalu Sport.
The tenth round of the American-based Global Rallycross Championship takes place this weekend in Seattle. The Subaru USA team has switched its driver line-up for the event, with British driver David Higgins and former WRC podium finisher Chris Atkinson replacing regulars Sverre Isachsen and Bucky Lasek.
Former French WRC star Francois Delecour has expressed an interest in making an appearance in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in the future, following a series of Pro Truck demonstration races at Loheac two weeks ago and a test with Albatec Racing last year. The news gives Rallycross World the little-needed excuse to publish a photograph of Delecour’s last rallycross exploits, from Bergerac in 1992, where he finished third driving Martin Schanche’s Ford RS200.
Rallycross World is sad to report the death of Belgian Jean-Michel Laurant, who died this week while working on his car. Laurant was a former FIA European Rallycross Championship competitor, most recently in the TouringCar division.
American star Ken Block has released his latest hit YouTube video, Gymkhana 9, which can be watched here. Ford Performance, Block’s partners in his FIA World Rallycross Championship campaign also released a video, detailing the construction of the Ford Focus RS RX Supercar, built by M-Sport. Watch that below.
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