FIA World Rallycross Championship leader Petter Solberg endured the toughest weekend in his title defence yet at this weekend’s World RX of Turkey.
The Norwegian star failed to reach the final after suffering a broken driveshaft on the startline in the semi-final.
Petter said: “What a tough weekend. So tough! We have been fighting so hard all the time here in Turkey. The Intercity Park RX track proved to be very difficult, and we struggled a lot to find the right speed on gravel.
“But we never gave up and, eventually, after trying all there was to try we found the answer before the fourth heat. We were second quickest in that heat, just beaten by Mattias Ekström.
“At that point, we were fifth – one position better than in Barcelona, where we went on to win two weeks ago. As usual, we gave it everything to get to the semi-final, but when I dropped the clutch on the startline a rear driveshaft broke. My race and my weekend was over.
“I am so, so disappointed. You know me and you know my team – we give this thing everything and this hurts me. Tonight we are all hurting a little bit in PSRX.
“We lost almost half our lead in the FIA World RX Championship; we are now down to 19 points ahead of Timmy Hansen with two races left on the calendar.
“As usual, we were so focused on this race. The driveshaft is just pure bad luck. After seeing the way Barcelona came together for us after the heats, we were really hopeful we could do the same this time. Instead, we did our worst result ever in the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
“Only half an hour after the final, which we had to watch on TV, my team and I sat down in a strategy meeting for the last two races of the season. We are desperate to strike back after this. Next up is Italy, I won the title there last year and we will fight like hell to make sure we come away from there smiling again.”
Result:
1 Timmy Hansen 6m02.470s
2 Andreas Bakkerud 6m02.747s
3 Johan Kristoffersson 6m04.940s
4 Mattias Ekström 6m12.032s
5 Davey Jeanney 6m12.457s
6 Anton Marklund DNF
Drivers’ championship positions:
1 Petter Solberg 256pts
2 Timmy Hansen 237pts
3 Johan Kristoffersson 201pts
4 Andreas Bakkerud 188pts
6 Mattias Ekström 181pts
Teams’ championship positions:
1 Peugeot-Hansen 418pts
2 Ford Olsbergs MSE 337pts
3 SDRX 281pts
Next time out World RX of Italy (October 16-18)
How can we forget Brescia’s Franciacorta International Circuit? It was here last year that Petter turned third into first. Third place in the final was good enough to seal the first FIA World Rallycross Championship title. And now we get to go back and give it a go again.
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