Skip to main content

VW Finishes First and Third at Belgian Rallycross

A wild race led to PSRX Volkswagen Team Sweden’s first victory in the 2017 season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Johan Kristoffersson climbed to the top spot on the podium, dethroning series leader Mattias Ekström for the first time this season.

His teammate, meanwhile, Petter Solberg, finished third after nearly losing it on the third lap. Solberg had been leading up to that point, but a bad final corner meant that the second-place Timmy Hansen out-dragged him on the front straight. Side-by-side going into the first corner, Solberg overcommitted himself on the outside and only just managed to recover, albeit in Andreas Bakkerud’s way, sending the Ford driver into the wall and a rage.

Krsitoffersson had jokered (finished his one, extra long lap) the previous lap and was stuck behind Ekström, who had not. Things weren’t looking good for Kristoffersson, who was racing towards a podium place but was losing ground to the first place Hansen as a result of being stuck behind what effectively amounted to a backmarker.

A puncture for Hansen on the penultimate lap, though, meant that Kristoffersson was able to take first. Hansen drove his tripod heroically, though, and managed to hang on to second place, crossing the finish line alongside, but ahead of, Solberg.

Petter Solberg (N) Volkswagen Polo GTI Supercar WRX Mettet 2017

“This is special. What an incredible feeling,” said Kristoffersson after the race. “I know Petter and I have talked about this a few times this year, but I think we are both so happy with the way the team is working with Volkswagen Motorsport and the speed we have had this weekend has shown that. The car has been perfect for me.”

The Belgian round of the WRX was the fourth, and the only one so far not won by Mattias Ekström and his Audi.

886x498px_vw-20170514-9837

Despite losing the race, Ekström is still first in the drivers’ standings, though his lead is anything but safe. Thanks to his strong finishes, Kristoffersson (98 pts) is only three points back of Ekstöm (101 pts). Solberg, meanwhile, is in third with 87 points.

The two VW drivers, though, have been finishing well all season, so their team leads the championship with 131 points, 17 points head of Ekström’s team, EKS.

Kristoffersson will look for his second victory of the season at the next event at the UK’s Lydden Hill racetrack, starting on May 26.

The post VW Finishes First and Third at Belgian Rallycross appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2qjeKPh
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Watch: The Story of the Ads that Made VW Big in America

The ads for the original Beetle are almost as famous and well-loved as the Beetle itself. Looking back now it’s easy to forget, though, just how easily things could have wrong. A new short from Dial M Films tracks the history of those early Volkswagen ads that sold America on the people’s car. The story, of course, begins with the visionary agency that made the ads: Doyle Dane Bernach (DDB). As a popular agency for Jewish products, no agency was more aware of the implications of Volkswagen, and no one, it seems, was more skeptical of the brand than DDB. “Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?” from Dial M Films on Vimeo . William Bernbach, though, was adament that the firm take the client, probably as a way of attracting other lucrative automotive clients. Saddled with a client that he didn’t want, art director Helmut Krone says in the film that he originally came up with ads that were all wrong. Krone tried to do what other manufacturers did and was intent on selling the Beetle ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Volkswagen Golf GTE Wins Top Honor at the 2015 Business Techies Awards

Golf GTE wins Green category in the 2015 BusinessCar Fleet Technology awards Judges praised the Golf GTE for its performance, ease of use and economy Golf GTE launched earlier this year with plug-in hybrid technology – priced from £33,755 204 PS performance combined with CO 2  emissions of just 39 g/km Volkswagen has added to its growing list of 2015 automotive industry accolades by winning the Green category in the annual BusinessCar Fleet Technology Awards – the Techies. The prestigious title was awarded to Volkswagen for the Golf GTE, an innovative plug-in hybrid that combines sporty dynamics with exceptional fuel economy and low CO 2  emissions. Now in their seventh year, the Techies are judged by both BusinessCar’s experienced editorial panel with help from TRL’s technology expert. The industry’s only technology-specific awards, the BusinessCar Techies reward the use of technology to make business car fleet operations easier, cheaper, cleaner, safer and more straig...
Post a Comment
Read more