Niclas Gronholm takes Top Qualifier on day one in Riga, Latvia.
FIA World Rallycross Championship returns to Riga, Latvia for rounds five and six, the third double header of the season.
Niclas Gronholm gets the better of Johan Kristoffersson in the final race of qualifying to take the Top Qualifier spot going into the semi-finals of round five of the 2020 championship.
Here’s what happened across the three sessions.
Qualifying 1
Liam Doran started the first race of the day on pole but Gronholm took the lead at turn one. Doran chased down Gronholm but round four winner took the win ahead of Doran. Reinis Nitiss made his and ESmotorsports first appearance of the 2020 season in the Skoda Fabia finishing third. Anton Marklund crawled over the line after picking up a problem on the first lap.
Championship leader Kristoffersson took the win in race two despite pressure from the 2019 champion Timmy Hansen. Robin Larsson finished third after contact at the start with Hansen, whilst Guerlain Chicherit was fourth.
The closest finish came in race three with Timur Timerzyanov side-by-side after Timerzyanov took his joker on the final lap with a sprint to the finish line. Krisztian Szabo returns with a third place ahead of Rene Munnich.
The final race win of the session went to Kevin Hansen who led from Mattias Ekstrom. The two were matching each other on pace, with Ekstrom sitting on Hansen’s tail over the final lap of the race. Third place went to Jani Paasonen ahead of Rokas Baciuska whilst Timo Scheider retired from the race.
Kristoffersson recorded the fastest time of the session ahead of Timmy and Kevin Hansen, Gronholm, Ekstrom and Larsson.
Qualifying 2
Q2 was run in the standard format with the slowest grids first. Scheider who had to retire with an electrical problem was straight into the lead from the outside. Unchallenged throughout he put in a strong lap time. Marklund and Baciuska were second and third. Paasonen picked up damage in turn one after contact with the inside barrier and then later in the race he had an engine failure with smoke pouring from the car.
Szabo took the lead at the start of race two and went on to take the win in the Hyundai, taking over the table for fastest time in the session. Munnich took his joker on the first lap and was soon on the back of Chicherit. Once Chicherit and Nitiss took their jokers Munnich moved up to second with Nitiss third ahead of Chicherit.
Larsson took the lead of race three at turn one after a nudge from Doran. Doran was into second whilst teammate Bakkerud was into third after tucking up the inside at turn one. Bakkerud was holding off Timerzyanov in third before a problem slowed him down and saw him drop down the order. Timerzyanov capitalized on a problem for Doran in the joker on the final lap to take second place ahead of Bakkerud. Doran had a failure on the front left of his car causing him to spin and head into the tyre wall in the joker section of the final lap, he nursed the car to the finish.
Gronholm launched off the line to take the lead going into turn one of the final race of the session. Ekstrom was able to get ahead of the two Hansen brothers and was all over the back of Kristoffersson. Ekstrom took his joker on the opening lap, with Kristoffersson going a lap later to cover him. Gronholm went on lap three and came out in front of Kristoffersson. Gronholm took the win despite pressure behind from Kristoffersson, Ekstrom was third. Timmy Hansen finished just ahead of brother Kevin, with the two side-by-side on the run to the line.
Gronholm took the fastest time of the session ahead of Szabo, Kristoffersson, Larsson, Ekstrom and Timmy Hansen. Kristoffersson remains in the top qualifier position with one qualifying session left to run.
Qualifying 3
The first race of Q3 was a full GCK affair with the two Meganes of Monster Energy RX Cartel and the two Clios Unkorrupted. Doran got the start and took the lead from round the outside. Bakkerud was close on the final turn after Doran joins from the joker lap but Doran maintained position to take the win. Chicherit was third ahead of Baciuska who spun at the start heading to turn one. Paasonen was a non-start for the race.
Timerzyanov led at the start of race two despite contact with Marklund at turn one. However he picked up damage to his rear right wheel, where the tyre came off the rim. Holding up the rest of the grid before they could pass, with Nitiss taking over the lead. Marklund put in quick laps after jokering on lap one and took the race win ahead of Nitiss. Munnich was third ahead of Timerzyanov who crawled home.
At the start of race three Timmy Hansen squeezed pole man Ekstrom towards the wall, Ekstrom however maintained position to lead in turn one. Ekstrom recorded the fastest lap of the day on lap one and took the win with quickest time of the day. Timmy Hansen took second from Kevin Hansen, Scheider was fourth.
Ekstrom was top of the session ahead of Larsson, Gronholm, Timmy Hansen, Doran and Kristoffersson.
Larsson launched off the line and went round the outside to take the lead in the final race of qualifying. Kristoffersson didn’t get the best start and was forced wide out of turn one by Szabo but the two-time champion held onto third. Gronholm took his joker on lap one, whilst Larsson and Kristoffersson left it until the end. Gronholm had closed the gap but Larsson was able to hold on to take the win, but Gronholm was to take second from Kristoffersson. Szabo finished fourth.
Top Qualifier for the finals goes to Gronholm, joining him in the first semi-final is Ekstrom, Timmy Hansen, Szabo, Bakkerud and Nitiss. Kristoffersson will be on pole for the second semi-final with Larsson, Kevin Hansen, Doran, Timerzyanov and Munnich joining him. Scheider misses out on the semi-finals by one point
Feature image credit: FIAWorldRallycross.com
