South East Scoobies - World Rallycross Championship R3 2016

Travelled to Belgium last weekend for my first World Rallycross excursion of the year. Mettet was my favourite rallycross weekend of 2015 and it was superb again this year. Here come the inevitable snaps…

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There were many reasons I was excited for the Mettet weekend and seeing the Focus RS RX for the first time was one of them. Unfortunately it was a pretty miserable weekend for the team, with Block’s car suffering multiple issues.

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Belgian rally driver Francois Duval has dabbled in rallycross in the past and he returned for another wildcard drive this weekend. He made the final thanks to a disqualification, but he was unable to match the pace of the leaders.

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Mattias Ekstrom finished top qualifier at both rounds 1 and 2. He managed to do the same again in Mettet and comfortably won his semi-final as well. Not only was he quick, but he made it look easy: pretty impressive given the level of competition!

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Magda Andersson took an unexpected win in the Touring Car class. Some smart driving in the first semi-final put her into the final and a clean start saw her slot into first when the leader retired. She then fended off several challengers to take the chequered flag.

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Thomas Bryntesson won the RX Lite final, making it two out of two this year.

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Sebastian Loeb has had a measured start to the year. He is clearly getting more confident with the car, as he looked to be pushing more at Mettet.

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Toomas Heikkinen won at Mettet in both 2014 and 2015, so he was expected to be fast again this year. Unfortunately he was slowed by technical issues and he didn’t make the semi-finals.

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Block’s teammate Andreas Bakkerud did fair slightly better than Ken, posting third fastest time in the fourth qualifier. It wasn’t enough to make the semi-finals though.

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Petter Solberg won his semi-final and looked like he might challenge Ekstrom in the final. Solberg was slowed by a wayward car though and was unable to regain the lost ground, eventually finishing third.

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With all the hype surrounding the Focus RS RX, I actually forgot about Munnich Motorsport switching marque. I thought the Seat Ibiza looked great in rallycross specification and early results for the car look encouraging.

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Jerome Grosset-Janin looked the man to beat among the European Championship entrants, winning all four qualifying heats and his semi-final. He was beaten in the final by Kevin Hansen though, who seemed to save his best for the last races of the weekend.

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With no one else close enough, only Loeb could challenge Ekstrom in the final. Loeb was quick, but Ekstrom was absolutely flawless, going on to take the win from Loeb by over two seconds.

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With a perfect weekend in the bag Ekstrom took maximum points and, with it, the lead of the World Rallycross Championship. This is the first time in over a year that Petter Solberg hasn’t led the World Championship. I’m looking forward to seeing Petter fight back at Lydden this weekend!