Anyone else follow WRX? Fantastic round at Spa this weekend, definitely the most entertaining so far. First win for Timerzyanov in 6 years and Wiman on the podium in a one-off appearance.
Q4 just finished in Norway and Niclas Grönholm is top qualifier after being in hospital for 6 weeks with appendicitis. I'm a Timmy Hansen fan but would be great to see Niclas get his first win after missing the last two events.
Kevin Abbring has been really impressive in his first rallycross event and Rokas Baciuška has also done well on his return, just behind Marklund ahead of Raymond and Chicherit despite problems in Q2.
Yeah it's a shame that the results were changed after the race because it put a bit of a damper on another great event. Not the way Grönholm would have wanted to win either. I hope Marklund gets his payback later on in the season because it was a pretty harsh disqualification.
After his 4th win of the year Timmy Hansen takes a 1 point lead over Andreas Bakkerud to South Africa for the final round in two months time, with Kevin Hansen only 8 points behind as well. Hopefully it goes all the way to the final race.
I've been following rallycross properly for the past three years at least. dipping in and out for a few years before that. it was a shame to see all manufacturers leaving the sport but this season has been the most competitive since 2015 or 2016.
I was rooting for Gronholm. it was a shame that he had to miss a few races but I'm sure he will come back stronger this year.
as for the title fight, I would rather see Kevin win than Bakkerud or Timmy but after Latvia I really don't want Cry Baby Timmy to win
Baciuska has surprised me this season, ever since he has moved to the GCK Megane he has been flying. I can see him winning a few events next season or even an outside bet of taking the title if his luck improves.
Quote ( Jed Lilly @ September 17th 2019,08:14:37 )
Baciuska has surprised me this season, ever since he has moved to the GCK Megane he has been flying. I can see him winning a few events next season or even an outside bet of taking the title if his luck improves.
yes, he's definitely improved since he changed cars but the Megane is very good either way. Kevin Abbring absolutely smashed with the Skoda so you can't say the Skoda was bad either.
Marklund is my favourite of the 2nd Tier drivers to get a few wins soon. he's been improving more and more every event.
I would love to see Kevin Abbring and Joni Wiman back next season too
Nice to see a few others here, was starting to think I was just talking to myself haha
The Megane has become a really good car over the course of the year, if their drivers had a bit more fortune on their side they could easily have won rounds - indeed Marklund did until that harsh DQ in Norway.
If Gronholm hadn't missed those two rounds he would definitely be in the title fight - combining his points with Wiman's would actually put him in the lead by 9 points. Wiman did a very impressive job and I would have liked to see him stick around for longer, but I'm quite sure that Gronholm would have done at least as well if he had been able to take part.
The one thing that seems to be missing for the majority of the grid compared to the Hansen brothers, Bakkerud and Gronholm is consistency. Guys like Doran and Scheider have the occasional one-off race where they absolutely nail it but when they need a big performance they don't quite pull it the bag the same way Kevin did in France or Timmy did in Latvia.
I read this somewhere before and I have to agree. rallycross tracks are changing a lot and this is also changing how drivers race.
old tracks required more sideways driving style. recent tracks have hard gravel, which pretty much works like dirty tarmac. this means less sideways and more traditional circuit racing, which is why Ekstrom, Kristofferson and some other drivers did so well over the past 3 years.
when it rains, sideways drivers do well. you can see that with Doran, Abbring, Tideman and some others. these same guys did really well in Spa as the track had deep gravel and required more sideways than usual.
yes, lots of guys need to be more consistent, including Kevin!
I'm excited, I hope it goes all the way to the final, at least between Andreas and Timmy. When I started watching back in 2015 Timmy was the guy that caught my attention so I'm rooting for him. Nowadays I like Kevin more but realistically it's unlikely he'll win it.
Andreas seems like a thoroughly sound bloke off-track but I really don't like how he drives; nudging Wiman towards the wall in Belgium, pushing Timmy into the tyres in Britain, shoving Gronholm out of the way in France, it all toes very close to the line. Nothing wrong with a bit of contact but it has to be fair.
the Audis have always been the villains of RX. just look at Mattias vs Petter and Andreas vs Hansens.
to be honest, I was rooting for Niclas this year. indeed, had he not been away for two races, he would be the 4th guy up there in contention for the title... but we would not have had Wiman putting up such a show when he did.
as it stands, I would like Kevin to win as I don't like Timmy or Andreas much. in reality, I rather Andreas to win as I think Timmy is too much of a crybaby sometimes.
Semi-finals about to go live, Grönholm is TQ with Timmy Hansen 2nd, Bakkerud 3rd and Kevin 4th. Crucially Liam Doran did not make the semis after being plagued with technical problems, so there will be no help for Bakkerud from his teammate. Timmy only has a 2 point lead over Andreas so it's still all to play for.
Bakkerud got the best launch again from P2 on the grid and shut the door on Hansen into turn 1. At the hairpin though he ran wide and Hansen dived into the gap, but there wasn't room on the exit for two cars side-by-side and Bakkerud ended up in the wall, then collected Timmy and spun him around, though there was nothing Andreas could have done to prevent that by the time he had hit the wall.
On rejoining Bakkerud swiped Kevin off as well and it all seemed over for the Hansens, but now Grönholm was in the lead and when Timo Scheider had problems of his own Timmy inheritted 4th place, putting him and Andreas level on 211 points. Therefore on countback Timmy Hansen is World Champion by dint of his 4 wins to Bakkerud's 1.
The incident is still under investigation, though I felt Hansen was entitled to go for the gap and he was alongside by the time they made contact. There's already some arguing on social media about the rightful winner of the championship, but it would have been the same had the incident cost Timmy the victory.
spoilers below . . . . . . . . . Hansen was entitled to go for the gap but his attempt has taken 3 other drivers with him and took Bakkerud off the lead, which would have given him the title.
any other day, any other category, Hansen would have been punished. because this was the title deciding race, I think the Stewards decided to stay out of the way
Full team list has been released for 2020. A bit disappointing to see only 13 full-time entries, seems Stard and GCK Academy have pulled out and OMSE must not be happy enough with the Fiesta to run it for a full season.
Good to see Johan back again though, he should be able to challenge the Hansens, Bakkerud and Grönholm for the title if the car delivers. Other than that I can see Rokas Baciuška as a potential dark horse; he showed a lot of speed last year despite only being 19, and if the Clio is any good he could be a contender.
WRX is finally back, with a new format to boot. Only 3 qualifying sessions followed by the finals, but it means both Saturday and Sunday will be full of action.
Q1 is live just now, with the other sessions to follow later in the day.
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