Silverstone World RX: Timmy Hansen wins to take points lead

RX Cartel driver Bakkerud set the pace through the final two qualifying sessions on Sunday, and like Hansen won his semi-final to start on the front row of the final.

With a pair of new tyres for the front axle of his Audi, Bakkerud made the best launch and began closing the door on pole-sitter Hansen in the braking area into turn one. But without being a full car length ahead, he was forced wide into apex.

But Hansen hit the barrier the inside of the corner and was given a further push in the rear by a fast-starting Timo Scheider from the third row.

Bakkerud took the lead into turn two as Hansen recovered to second, and Anton Marklund ducked out of the traffic into the joker at the first opportunity.

Marklund set the pace having jokered into clean air in the opening laps, but Hansen responded with a lap three joker to cover off the position.

That also allowed him to have his own clear road ahead and he bettered Marklund’s benchmark, setting the fastest lap of the day to close in on Bakkerud ahead.

With the gap decreasing, Bakkerud took his compulsory extra-route on the penultimate tour in a bid to retain his advantage, but carrying an issue with the handbrake meant he couldn’t use it to rotate the car.

As a result, he lost the lead, even with a close merge with Hansen over the finish line into the final lap.

Hansen remained at the front to the finish and claimed his second win of the campaign, moving into the points lead in the process.

Bakkerud’s second place maintained his record of finishing on the podium in every event he has finished this year, while Marklund made the podium for the GCK squad for the first time, his second World RX career rostrum finish.

Scheider wound up fourth, with Krisztian Szabo fifth and Liam Doran sixth, the British driver spinning on the final lap.

Championship leader heading into the event, Kevin Hansen didn’t make the final for the second round in a row. He followed brother Timmy through semi-final one but spun on the joker lap in the final tour and finished sixth.

Standing in for the unwell Niclas Gronholm, GRX substitute and podium finisher from Spa Joni Wiman qualified on the front row for the semi-finals but went out when he was squeezed into the tyre wall in the right-hander after the circuit’s jump, and the Hyundai i20 rolled onto its side.

Cla	Driver	Chassis
1	Timmy Hansen	Peugeot 208
2	Andreas Bakkerud	Audi S1
3	Anton Marklund	Renault Megane RS
4	Timo Scheider	Seat Ibiza
5	Krisztián Szabó	Audi S1
6	Liam Doran	Audi S1
View full results