World RX – Petter Solberg wins at Montalegre

Petter Solberg won the World RX Final at Montalegre ahead of Olbergs MSE team drivers Andreas Bakkerud and Reinis Nitiss, while the Volkswagens of Toomas Heikkinen and Anton Marklund fell short of the podium by beating the Belgian Koen Pauwels. After winning the last two qualifying rounds, the Norwegian won his semi-final. The 2003 world champion WRC thus leaves at the top of the Championship with five points ahead of Reinis Nitiss and eight over Toomas Heikkinen.

The weekend, however, went less well for Timur Timerzyanov who held the lead of the event after the first two qualifying heats contested the day before. The Team driver Peugeot -Hansen was unable to advance to the final after finishing fourth in his semi-final behind the Fiesta of Reinis Nitiss and Andreas Bakkerud and the Polo of Anton Marklund. The reigning European champion is only in fifth position in the Drivers' standings, one point behind Andreas Bakkerud and ten points behind the first leader of the Championship. Jacques Villeneuve also had a difficult weekend for his debut in the discipline since the Albatec Racing resident suffered a hydraulic leak before the start of the third qualifying heat, preventing him from qualifying for the semi-finals.

The videos of the Montalegre event can be viewed on this link.

Discover the report of the World RX in Montalegre produced by our special correspondents in issue 1959 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.