World Rallycross Championship

The inaugural FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy held its first round in Portugal this past weekend. It was the Montalegre Rallycross which was won by Norway’s Petter Solberg in a PSRX Citroen DS3 Supercar. Solberg was joined by fellow Norwegian Andreas Bakkerud in the Ford OlsbergsMSE finishing second. Another Ford of Reinis Nitiss finished in third and that puts Ford on top of the constructors’ points.

Russia’s Sergej Zagumennov won the Super1600 category and he summed up by saying, “I always have the pedal flat down and that’s how Russians like to drive!”. Nikita Misiulia and Janis Baumanis finished in second and third respectively in this category. Another Norwegian, Torleif Lona won the Touring Category in his Ford Fiesta, followed by fellow countryman Kjetil Larsen in the Skoda Fabia, third in this category was Anders Braten in a Ford Fiesta.

The FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy was established in this year and it will run through 12 rounds: Portugal, Great Britain, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Argentina. The next round will head over to Britain at the Lydden Hill Circuit on 24th May.

Quotes:

Solberg:

I am overwhelmed, today is like a dream, I have been fighting for a victory for a long time so it is fantastic to finally get this. It’s like winning my first ever rally again and I’m sure even my mum and dad are proud of me! I have to thank my wife (Pernilla) too and I have some of the best mechanics, they are fantastic. Finally, I also want to thank IMG – they do an incredible job. I’ve never seen anyone promote a sport as well as they have done with rallycross. It’s amazing.

Martin Anayi, World RX Managing Director for IMG Motorsport, concluded:

It’s been an unforgettable season-opener in Portugal. We’ve had great weather, the fans have been fantastic and the racing has been action-packed from start to finish. We couldn’t have asked for anything better. On behalf of everyone from IMG, I’d like to congratulate Petter for his first ever World RX victory – he and the PSRX team have worked incredibly hard and after his bad luck last year in the FIA European Rallycross Championship, it’s great to see him end the weekend on the top spot of the podium. Well done to Ford Olsbergs MSE too, it’s encouraging to see the huge potential of young drivers such as Reinis and Andreas who did a sterling job out on the track today.

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