Bakkerud to return to competitive rallycross action in Sweden
Seven-time World Rallycross Championship podium finisher Andreas Bakkerud will return to competitive rallycross action this weekend during the Swedish round of the series at Holjes.
Bakkerud tied on points for the World RX crown in 2019, but lost the title on countback.
Now he will race in the FIA European Rallycross Championship season opener that features on the World RX bill this weekend in an ES Motorsport Skoda Fabia.
Having been one of three drivers to have contested every World RX event since the series' inception in 2014 until the start of 2021, Bakkerud returns to the Euro RX series having missed the World RX season opener in Spain last month.
The Norwegian claimed his maiden top-flight rallycross victory at Holjes in Sweden in the Euro RX series in 2013, and will line up alongside Latvian Janis Baumanis for the Lithuanian squad this weekend.
The late deal and entry was possible as Bakkerud takes the place of Hungarian driver 'Luigi,' who had been forced to withdraw.
Andreas Bakkerud, Skoda Fabia
Photo by: Skoda Motorsport
"Having to watch one more race weekend from the sofa would just have been unthinkable," said Bakkerud, "and especially Holjes – my stomach wouldn't have stood for that!
"I'm over the moon to be back on the grid, and this is such a special circuit for me. I went to school in Torsby when I was growing up, so I'm very familiar with the area around Holjes and it really feels like a home track."
The ES Motorsport team for which Bakkerud will drive has twice finished fourth in a World RX event, with Dutchman Kevin Abbring in Norway and Sweden in 2019, and has subsequently run a number of different drivers.
The 2021 Euro RX round at Holjes will mark the first time it has run two cars.
Twenty-seven drivers form the entry list for the Euro RX RX1 (previously Supercar) opener, including rally and rallycross legend Per Eklund, who turned 75 in June.
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