It was the day of the tarmac racing drivers when the first round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship was run at Spanish Circuit De Catalunya.
The defending World Champion Mattias Ekström beat all the rivals in the finale, but it wasn’t without a great battle from his former DTM teammate Timo Scheider. The podium was completed with another driver flirting with the tarmac sport, in the shape of a part of Danish DTC season in Denmark through 2016, Andreas Bakkerud.
Scheider was on top of the table before the semi finals, so the former Audi Sport DTM driver got the disappointment of being fired channeled into loads of pace in his Ford Focus RXS, after finishing fourth at the final round in 2016.
Photo: Fiaworldrallycross.com
The double World RX Champion Petter Solberg finished fourth in his first race in the new PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team and scored a lot of good points for the championship. Teammate Johan Kristoffersson stalled his car off the line in the final and finished sixth.
The Championship standings have Mattias Ekström in the lead, with Timo Scheider in second place, and Andreas Bakkerud in third. But there are still 11 Rounds left of this years Championship, so a lot can still happen before the final in South Africa in November.
The next round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship will be held on April 21st-23rd in Portugal.
