Timmy Hansen crowned Champion, while Van Gisbergen wins series finale.

PHOTO CREDIT: Hansen Motorsport.

Reigning World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen claimed the inaugural FIA World Rallycross Championship's Esports Series title in the final round at the Killarney International Raceway in South Africa, as Shane Van Gisbergen took his second series win.

Hansen entered the final round leading the championship by six points ahead of Tom Blomqvist, but it was Blomqvist who topped the intermediate rankings ahead of Timmy heading into the semi-finals. 

The World RX Esports title decider came down to the final, a very familiar affair for Hansen who battled Andreas Bakkerud in the final to win the 2019 World RX Championship. Both Hansen and Blomqvist won their respective semi-finals to claim the best starting positions on the grid for the final. 

Having missed the Holjes round of the World RX Esports series, due to real-life motorsport commitments last month, Van Gisbergen made the best start in the final to take the lead, while Timmy battled for position and shut the door on Blomqvist on the run to turn one. 

Van Gisbergen proved his class by dominating the final to take his second win and finish third in the Esports Series, while South African GT racer David Perel claimed second place ahead of Tom Blomqvist, Timmy Hansen, and round three winner Jonathan Pailler.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for Timmy Hansen who had quite a few moments in the dirt hairpin where he and Andreas Bakkerud came together in 2019, but he came out on top and clinched the World RX Esports Series title. 

“This feels great. The World RX Esports series has been a great way to have some racing in the off-season and the result at the end was fantastic for me. We had some great rallycross races in the Esports series when I’ve been looking back at it, it’s properly exciting and this time again it fell my way. Shane was the star of the series by being so super-fast, but this feels amazing,” said Hansen.

“I practised a lot and went into this championship in the same way as I would have done anything else. I never felt I was the quickest out there; I was always missing a couple of tenths, but I was often able to have good launches and put in the laps when I needed to. I think that was the key to becoming champion."

It's been a great seven months for Hansen, who claimed the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship in November last year, and the virtual Race of Champions title last month. 

“Although we haven’t started racing properly yet in 2020 I already have two championships under my belt, this one, and Race of Champions Virtual," he said. "This year has already been good to me in terms of results, so I’m going into the season now with nothing to lose. I’m going to jump into it and do the best that I can, and enjoy being back on a real race track.”

Kevin Hansen also started the last race of the Esports season with a chance of the title, but a disconnect before Q1 then had battles in every session, and being pushed into a spin in his semi-final meant he did not make the final. 

"We had some bad luck in two of the races and maybe lacked a tenth of a second when it comes to pace," Kevin Hansen said. "Maybe I didn’t put enough practice hours in!"

Also just missing out on the last final was Sivert Svardal, P3 in semi-final one, and Marius Bermingrud, who was P4 in semi-final two. Orhan Avcioglu returned to the World RX Esports series and made the semi-finals, along with another newcomer from South African, Jordan Pepper.

The World RX Esports Series ran alongside a Sim category, and the title went to the 2020 DiRT World Series Rallycross Champion Killian Dall'olmo who won his third final in the four-round series. Tommi Hallman and Jonne Ollikainen completed the podium, whilst Quentin Dall'olmo, the winner of round one at Yas Marina circuit, dropped out of contention for the Sim title when he failed to make the final following a five-second time penalty in the semi-finals. 

Written By - Junaid Samodien

Three-Way Fight For Glory in World RX Esports Finale.

PHOTO CREDIT: Hansen Motorsport.

The first-ever World RX Esports series champion will be crowned this weekend as the series finale comes to a close, with three drivers in the hunt for the title.

Reigning FIA World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen is top of the standings thanks to consistency throughout the Esports season so far, but he is yet to win a race in the series.

Six points behind Hansen in the standings is Tom Blomqvist, the winner of round two at Hell in Norway. Third, in the standings is Kevin Hansen six points behind Blomqvist and could mount a title challenge with a strong performance this weekend.

Shane van Gisbergen will return to action after missing a round due to clashes with the Austrian V8 Supercars Championship. The New Zealander dominated round one at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi and then finished second to Blomqvist in Norway. But, despite missing a round he remained fourth in the standings. 

The winner from round three Jonathan Pailler also returns. Pailler caused an upset at Holjes with victory on his World RX Esports debut. Henrik Krogstad is another driver, like Timmy Hansen, who has been in recent real-life competition and has been a strong performer in the World RX Esports series so far. He will also be in the podium hunt.

World Rally Championship round-winner Hayden Paddon will return to make his third start, while Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy racer Simon Evans will make his World RX Esports debut appearance.

Like Van Gisbergen, Australian Supercars driver Scott Pye missed round three but is back for the series finale, together with former Ferrari Formula 1 driver Mika Salo. Oliver Bennett will make his Esports return as one of two BMW Minis on the grid, together with anther British driver, Max Coates. 

Blancpain GT star David Perel and GT racer, Jordan Pepper, both driving Peugeot 208s will fly the South African flag in the series finale on the Killarney circuit.  

Included in the line-up is Orhan Avcioglu, Tessa Whittock, Matvey Furahzkin, Sivert Svardal, Fail Race, and Marius Bermingrud who complete the 20-driver Pro line-up.

Meanwhile, in the Sim category Killian Dall’olmo, the DiRT 2.0 Rallycross World Champion, leads the standings in the Sim category by a single point over older brother Quentin Dall’olmo entering the final round decider. Lukas Mateja will be a victory contender in the season finale and is third in the points.

The event will be comprised of 22 races and form a two-and-a-half-hour show starting at 13:30 UK / 15:30 CAT on 12 July and available on World RX Facebook and YouTube, as well as on  SuperSport.

PRO CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1. Timmy Hansen (SWE) 73

2. Tom Blomqvist (GBR) 67

3. Kevin Hanssen (SWE) 61

4. Shane van Gisbergen (NZL) 55

5. Henrik Krogstad (NOR) 52

 

SIM CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1. Killian Dall’olmo (FRA) 37

2. Quentin Dall’olmo (FRA) 36

3. Lukas Mateja (CZE) 25

4. John Harris (GBR) 23

5. Daniel Johansson (SWE) 11

Blomqvist claims maiden World RX Esports Series win.

Blomqvist leads Van Gisbergen in World RX Esports Series final.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX. 

Tom Blomqvist takes surprise win in the second FIA World Rallycross Championship's Esports Series at Hell in Norway. 

The Brit missed out on a place in the final but was given a second chance after Kevin Hansen, Martin Enlund, and Sivert Svardal were all handed five-second time penalties for contact in their semi-final race.

The six-lap final looked set to be a duel between reigning World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen and Shane Van Gisbergen after the pair topped the Intermediate Classification in qualifying. 

Hansen won semi-final one to secure pole for the final. While Van Gisbergen won semi-final two, to join Hansen on the inside of the grid for the final with Blomqvist in third, Henrik Krogstad in fourth and Marius Bermingrud in fifth (outside line). 

Timmy Hansen lead from the start and had a comfortable three-second lead to Van Gisbergen and Bermingrud who had jokered on the opening lap.

The Swede took the joker on lap two to cover off Van Gisbergen and allowed Blomqvist into the lead. He emerged ahead but ran wide and the New Zealander took the inside line to sweep into second place. Timmy then fell into the clutches of Bermingrud who had jokered on lap one. 

Bermingrud momentarily passed Hansen at turn two, but following contact with Henrik Krogstad who had emerged from the joker lap, Timmy retook the position. 

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media.

With clean air ahead and a series of fastest laps (33.8s) Blomqvist was untouchable despite a late mistake in the joker on lap six. He was able to edge ahead of Van Gisbergen and Timmy Hansen to take his maiden World RX Esports Series win with Krogstad and Bermingrud rounding out the five-car final. 

"I am pretty happy with that," Blomqvist said. "I was struggling in the wet to be honest, and I knew I had good pace in the dry, so when I got a decent position at the start of the final and then Timmy went for the joker straight away, I knew if I got some clean air and I should be in with a shot. I knew Shane was going to be strong - the guy is a freak."  

"I did a few of the fastest laps I’ve done over the last day of practice so it all kinda of came together. I nearly messed up the joker lap, but other than that it worked out well."

Among those eliminated prior to the semi-finals was Australian Supercars star Scott Pye who missed out by a single point, GCK's Rokas Baciuksa,  New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon, Audi factory GT driver Kelvin van der Linde, and Titans RX driver Tamara Molinaro. 

There were also semi-finals and final for the Sim category at Hell, featuring 10 of the world’s best DiRT 2.0 Esports racers. Killian Dall’olmo claimed victory for the SET Esports team, in front of round one winner Quentin Dall’olmo and John Harris.

The penultimate round of the World RX Esports series will take place at Holjes, Sweden on Sunday 28 June.

Written By - Junaid Samodien

Leclerc impresses in virtual Rallycross debut.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media.

Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc impressed on his World Rallycross Esports Series debut at the Yas Marina Circuit over the weekend. 

Whilst the world is slowly returning to normal following stay at home orders due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many professional drivers took to sim racing and Esports to entertain their fans.

Charles Leclerc is one of many real-world racers who took to sim racing like a duck to water streaming Formula 1 races, lawnmower racing, truck simulator driving, and over the weekend he made his rallycross debut.

It was an eventful debut for Leclerc who was involved in multiple incidents throughout the qualifying stages battling his way in-and-out of traffic, as well as rolling his car in Q3, to taking a race win in wet conditions in the fourth qualifier, but unfortunately, he was unable to progress to the semi-finals after finishing twelfth in the intermediate classification.  

Whilst he missed out on a place in the semi-finals, his shire speed came to the fore in the fourth qualifying race. The rain came and he showed pure speed from lights out. And, despite Henrik Krogstad crossing the line first, Leclerc was declared the race winner after Krogstad was awarded a jump-start penalty.

Following the fourth qualifying race, Leclerc admitted: “In the rain, I am quite good. While in the dry [conditions] I am struggling but not massively compared to the others.”

In the build-up to the FIA World Rallycross Championship Esports Series, Charles practiced with the Dall’olmo brothers. Killian Dall’olmo is the reigning DiRT Rally 2.0 World Series Rallycross Champion, while his older brother Quentin Dall’olmo won the Abu Dhabi Sim Racers eSports event this past weekend. 

Speaking after the race about Charles Leclerc’s performance, Quentin said: “We did few races before the event and for the first time on the game he [Leclerc] was really good but sadly he had no chance with a lot of contact with the other drivers. But if he does the next round with more training he could have a really good result.”

Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen (event winner) was an unstoppable force in the series opener in Abu Dhabi, with 2019 World RX Champion Timmy Hansen and Henrik Krogstad rounding out the podium. While Kevin Hansen had the pace but after a few incidents he finished the final in fifth place. 

Kevin believes that Leclerc had the potential to make it into the finals, but was involved in too many incidents.

“I think he [Charles Leclerc] has the potential to be in the finals. It was a shame that some drivers took him out during the races,” Kevin Hansen said.  

World Rallycross commentator Andrew Coley was also quite impressed by Charles Leclerc’s performance on debut.

“To me, it was clear [Charles] Leclerc had put the laps in, he had the pace. But he was really unlucky at the start, quite often through no fault of his own. It can happen in real life too, for instance, an unlucky Q1 draw can be hard to recover from. But to me, he looked fast, and as I understand it he enjoyed it.”

Charles Leclerc training with World RX driver Matvey Furazhkin

Footage Supplied By: FIA World Rallycross Media.

Getting up to speed in a virtual RX Supercar came quite quickly for both van Gisbergen and Leclerc. Coley said that he'd love to see Leclerc and Van Gisbergen get a test in rallycross. 

“I’d love to see him [Leclerc] and Van Gisbergen have a test in real life, and then to see the smile on their face when they get out of the car!” Coley said.

“But in the meantime the more they’d like to enter WorldRX’s Esports the better, I’m really grateful for their time, and I know the fans are too.”

Speaking after the qualifying races, Leclerc admitted that his virtual rallycross debut was very cool. “It was fun! Hopefully, I can do the next event,” he said.

The FIA World Rallycross Esports Series will return on 21 June 2020 in Hell, Norway. 

Van Gisbergen returns for FIA World RX Esports Invitational Series.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool. 

2016 Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen will return to the FIA Rallycross Championship Esports Invitational Series at the Yas Marina Circuit this Sunday. 

On his virtual rallycross debut in Portugal last time out, van Gisbergen claimed a podium finish despite multiple spins and incidents including a collision with Mattias Adielsson on the opening lap of the final. 

“It was definitely fun to do my first World RX Esports race in Portugal, I always watch World Rallycross on TV so it was pretty cool to be a part of it racing all those guys and I went a lot better than what I thought I would,” he said. “My goal was to make the semis but I didn’t think that would be possible given how fast everyone was, but I had some good luck in the races and had a couple of qualifying wins which really helped me.”

 

The New Zealander has previous experience of racing at the Abu Dhabi circuit when the Australian V8 Supercars last raced at Yas Marina in 2012. 

Whilst he might have experience around the Yas Marina circuit; the purpose-built 1.2-kilometer rallycross circuit poses its own unique challenges with long straights and tight turns that aren’t forgiving. 

Van Gisbergen has already begun testing for the opening round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship Esport Invitational Series.

“I did some laps at Abu Dhabi a couple of days ago actually, it’s a pretty long track, quite tough and technical,” Van Gisbergen said. “I actually raced there a couple of times a few years ago in V8 Supercars, so it’s quite cool to be racing on the rallycross version, so it should be a bit of fun. I had a really good response from the rallycross (Esports event in Portugal) so hopefully, everyone enjoyed watching it and this weekend hopefully we can do the same again.”

The driver line-up has been confirmed for the first event include FIA World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen, World RX racers, and esports regulars Oliver Bennett, Timo Scheider and Kevin Hansen along with rising star Rokas Baciuska. Former Ferrari F1 driver Mika Salo and Supercars Star Shane Van Gisbergen returns for there second rallycross outing. 

A host of new entrants will make their virtual rallycross debut this Sunday, namely: drifting and stunt driver Tessa Whittock, RX2 racer Fraser McConnell, the 2019 GT Masters Champion Kelvin van der Linde, Australian Supercars driver Scott Pye, GT star Tom Blomqvist and WTCR racer Esteban Guerrieri.