Bakkerud "really, really happy" with results in Barcelona despite first corner exit.

PHOTO CREDIT: GC Kompetition.

The 2020 World Rallycross Championship was always going to be an uphill challenge for Andreas Bakkerud (the 2019 vice-champion) having switched from EKS run Audi's to GC Kompetition. 

Having tested the Renault Megane R.S. RX in Cape Town in 2018, he might have had an idea of its performance, but it always takes time to learn the new machinery. But straight off the bat, Bakkerud claimed some good results and even progressed to the finals on two occasions but never truly had the ability to challenge for a win or even a podium due to a lack of performance and mechanical issues with the Megane.

But things would soon take a turn for the better following a test after a Latvian double-header in France, which saw Bakkerud return for form in Barcelona. Whilst Saturday (round 7) wasn't the easiest for the Norwegian, he did however make the final, but was hampered by power steering issues and ended the day in sixth overall. 

On Sunday morning, Andreas registered the ninth-fastest time in the morning warm-up session ahead of Q1, where he would finish behind Mattias Ekstrom and conclude the session in fifth overall. 

And, as the day progressed the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel driver just got faster and faster. Q2 saw the Norwegian hold off Johan Kristoffersson to win the heat and claim a third-place finish overall.

That's not all folks, Andreas went on to beat the likes of Mattias Ekstrom, Johan Kristoffersson, and the Hansen brothers in Q3, which saw him leap-frog Timmy Hansen and seal pole position in the semi-final. Guess what? He won semi-final 2 by 0.478 seconds ahead of Timmy Hansen. 

Whilst Johan Kristoffersson won the other semi-final from the second row of the grid, he would line-up alongside Andreas for the final. 

Both Andreas and Johan started the final with two new front tyres and as the lights went out Johan appeared to have a better start. While Andreas inched closer heading into turn one. Thinking he was clear, Kristoffersson cut in front of Bakkerud sending him into the tyre barrier, he spun around and was hit quite hard by Robin Larsson who had nowhere to go, his race was over from there. 

It's a question of what could have been? But Andreas is quite pleased with his results in Barcelona despite the first corner exit in the final. 

"Generally, I’m really, really happy about the result this weekend," he said. "Who would’ve thought after the difficulties we faced at the start of the season that we would be here today, on pole position in the final ahead of Johan Kristofferson."

"We even had Johan on reaction time at the start of the final! The squeeze came really suddenly and Robin had nowhere to go but that’s the way it goes sometimes."

Yet to win a race this season, Andreas admits that he really wanted to win in Barcelona, but won't give up on his pursuit of glory in the GCK prepared Renault Megane R.S. RX. 

"I wanted this win really badly and I’m not giving up now," Bakkerud adds. "We did everything we could this weekend and I’m really proud of the entire team and everyone involved both here and back at home. Thank you!"

Written By - Junaid Samodien.

Doran left frustrated after troublesome outing in Barcelona.

PHOTO CREDIT: GC Kompetition

Plagued with bad luck in the first half of the 2020 World Rallycross Championship, Liam Doran has had a slightly better outing at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona. 

Whilst he claimed his best result of the season in Latvia, the British bomb had a better pace in Barcelona but was not able to capitalize on it through costly mistakes. 

On Saturday (round seven) he jumped the start in Q1 and so did Mattias Ekstrom both driver were handed the customary 2 lap joker penalty, but once the race got underway the Brit led through the first corner and opted to take the joker on lap one, and as the race progressed he was able to jump Ekstrom and had slightly better pace then his teammate and brought it home in second place (ninth overall).

He went on to claim another second-place finish in Q2 (P8 overall) but had a slightly more challenging Q3 finishing in 11th overall. 

Tenth overall after the three qualifying sessions, he progressed to the semi-finals, but it all went downhill from there as he lost front-wheel-drive and exited the race registering a DNF.

Speaking after round seven, Doran said: "All-day the car has been performing great off the start and feels really fun to drive. We made some changes ahead of the semi-finals to get some more traction and it worked a little too well, unfortunately. I then messed up the first corner by stalling and dropped to the back."

"Another small mistake ahead of the jump saw me hit the barrier and spat me out the jump the wrong way, which I just managed to save. It’s frustrating to make mistakes for sure, especially as we had a good start to the day, which then didn’t end quite as well but we go again tomorrow and try to build on today’s pace," he adds.

Back on track for round eight on Sunday morning, Doran posted the eighth fastest time in the morning warm-up and was all set for another day of action. 

Q1 saw Doran drop to P4 after contact in turn one and jokered straight away. He then began chasing down Mandie August and overtook her on the last time to finish in third. 

Lining up alongside Bennett, August, and Guillerme in the second qualifier, Doran’s race finished unexpectedly. Having led the pack for all 4 laps despite a misfiring engine from lap 1, he struggled to keep control into the last corner ahead of the chequered flag due to repeated misfires, resulting in him ending up in the wall and spinning around before crossing the line in second place. And, while the Brit was in 12 overall after Q2, the engine issues were too significant to get fixed ahead of Q3 leading to his early exit from the weekend's action. 

"It’s been a frustrating day for me in Barcelona," he said. "The car felt good and I felt in control until the engine issues reared their head and unfortunately there was no way to continue."

"Having made some mistakes yesterday that cost us to now have an early finish today is frustrating but there’s nothing to do about it really, it’s motorsport."

Written By - Junaid Samodien

World RX: The best poker game ever?

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool.

After a dramatic end to the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship, everyone eagerly awaited the start of the 2020 season, with the COVID-19 pandemic helping to increase this anticipation. 

However, while the new season would see four of the last world championship winners on the grid, most carried caution to their anticipation as Johan Kristoffersson left the championship in 2018 after a very dominant and quite predictive nature. This might just have been why the 2019 season was so spectacular, but with the return of the latter, everyone feared that we might go in the same direction as Formula 1 went with Lewis Hamilton during the past few years. 

Most would have rightfully betted that Kristoffersson would lead the championship after three double-headers, but fewer would have predicted that the former powerhouse would struggle a bit to keep the rest behind. 

    1. A tactical warfare 

Even fewer would have predicted that tactics (and not sure speed) would be at the order of the day. With Mattias Ekström taking Jānis Baumanis’ (JC Raceteknik) seat at the last moment, the paddock became increasingly wary of this. 

The Swede might just have amazed himself at Höljes, taking the second win of the championship and changing his plans for the following weekend as he would once again take part in the Finnish double-header. 

While Kristoffersson and Niclas Grönholm won the next two rounds, Ekström kept consistent. Grönholm again took the top qualifier position in Riga on Saturday, but a chaotic start to the final saw Kristoffersson take the win, with Ekström taking second. It went even further as the latter took the top qualifier spot on the next day and won the Sunday event in Riga. 

Yet, with both Kristoffersson and Ekström in the pack, it is becoming evidently clear why and how the 2016 – 2018 championships were won by these two. Tyre strategies, mind games, and team help is now the order of the day and we might just see this until December when the 2020 championship finishes. 

Niclas Grönholm leads Mattias Ekström and Johan Kristoffersson in Finland.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX.

    2. GRX Taneco with immense start-line power 

For some, Niclas Grönholm stands as the 2019 champion, who never took the title. Missing two rounds due to an appendicitis operation, the Finn entered the last Cape Town round with a mathematical chance of still claiming the title. While this was never to be the case, he took the win at the Killarney International Raceway. 

Ending the Höljes weekend, the odds were stacked against the GRX Taneco team as they seemed to struggle with pace and set-ups, compared to the Volkswagen Polo and the Audi S1 Quattro’s.

The next weekend, however, saw different circumstances as Juha Rytkönen finished the first day in the second-place. The taste of champagne became even sweeter on day 2 as Grönholm silenced critics by fending off immense pressure from Kristoffersson and Ekström to win his home round, with teammate, Timur Timerzyanov with him on the podium. 

Showcasing that this was not just a once-off, Grönholm took TQ on day 1 at Riga, however, a difficult first corner propelled Kristoffersson to the win. 

Joining the GRX SET squad from EKS machinery, Krisztián Szabó showcased his true form this year by finishing inside the top-10 consistently and winning his race heats. All this basically comes down to immense starts with all three of the Hyundai’s having great starts in almost every race. 

Will these good launches (starts) give the team extra armor in the fight for the championship?

Andreas Bakkerud leading rival Timmy Hansen and Mattias Ekström.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX.

    3. Where are the 2019 contenders? 

Timmy Hansen and Andreas Bakkerud finished the 2019 season behind a controversial curtain, which will be disputed for many years to come. Finishing the season on equal points, many regarded them as the two fiercest competitors for 2020. 

Unfortunately, this is yet to be proven, with Hansen only claiming a season-best third place on the first day in Finland followed up by third in Riga. While this might not seem that bad,  Hansen Motorsport is yet to prove its consistency, compared to GRX Taneco, KYB Team JC, and Kristoffersson Motorsport. 

With even more bad luck, the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel combination started off much worse than anticipated. Following GCK’s progress during the past few years, it was thought that the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel's connection would propel them to the front. 

Andreas Bakkerud is yet to reach a podium position in 2020, with the Norwegian seemingly struggling to find his same form with the Megane as he showcased with the EKS run Audi in 2019. 

A sparkle of hope came through as Bakkerud started to show some form on the final day in Riga as he slotted into the second row of the second semi-finals. Fighting it out with Timo Scheider for P3 in the second semi-finals during race 6, the Megane of Bakkerud came second best, hitting a grass bank pretty hard. 

A broken driveshaft sees the wheel come off Doran's Renault Megane.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX.

    4. British bomb not igniting

Liam Doran, the package deal for the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel link-up, is finding the best of bad luck in 2020. The British driver seems to have a combination of bad luck and problems with the car during every round this year. 

With this, he is certainly the most inconsistent driver thus far, with no necessary fault of his own. 

Only one top-10 position thus far proves this. 

Is it due to Doran’s vigorous driving style or might it just be the GCK machinery not working as well? 

In 2018, it might have been easy to place money on Johan Kristoffersson as the likely champion, yet, the 2020 season is promised to be far less predictable, with the double World Champion yet to win a Sunday event. Having won 50% of the 2020 events thus far, he is not as dominant as he once was with PSRX Volkswagen Sweden. 

Will Kristoffersson take his third championship, Ekström his second, or Grönholm his first? 

Written By - Franco Theron (Galimoto Media)

Bakkerud appreciates safety equipment in Mégane after 120km/h crash.

PHOTO CREDIT: GC Kompetition

Andreas Bakkerud was given the all-clear on Sunday evening following a heavy crash in the semi-finals of round six of the World Rallycross Championship in Riga-Latvia.

The 2019 World RX runner-up came wheel-to-wheel with Timo Scheider as the German emerged from the joker lap at the end of lap five, and while Scheider was able to keep the Norweigian behind. On the last lap, Andreas saw a gap and went for the overtake on the inside of the German but in the short run to turn five, Scheider defended and squeezed him into the grass bank with significant impact, that tore the front-left corner off the GCK Mégane R.S. RX. He was immediately helped from the car by marshals and taken to the hospital for further evaluation, and was released on Sunday evening. 

Scheider finished the semi-final in third-place, but was later disqualified by the FIA Stewards for "unsportsmanlike" behavior. 

Bakkerud has not had the smoothest of seasons with GC Kompetition, but put his Renault Mégane in sixth-place overall after the three qualifiers, and progressed to the semi-finals where his weekend abruptly ended. He finished round 6 of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in seventh overall. 

"Today was really a day about consistency for us in Riga and the target was the podium for sure," Bakkerud said. "I felt we were strong in Q1 and Q2 especially, then we struggled a bit in Q3, got safely to the semi-finals, and saw a lot of action there."

The Norwegian talks us through what happened in the semi-final, including the heavy 120km/h shunt.  

"First following the start which had us pushed out but then I caught up to Scheider twice and knew I had the opportunity to overtake him. I saw him break a little late to defend and I took a wider line, cut back to then take the inside line," he explained. "Then I just felt one big punch into the front side of my car that changed its direction entirely and hit the barrier on the left doing 120km/h at the time. There were parts everywhere and I literally just closed my eyes hoping that Marklund and Doran would avoid me."

"At that speed, you never know what can happen. The track medical team did a great job and the Riga hospital did a lot of tests on me, which I really appreciate."

"It’s moments like this that you appreciate the work we’ve done on our safety equipment in the Megane, the seatbelts, our hybrid device, the helmet, and so on - you sometimes take it for granted but now I’m just happy that we use safety equipment that is well proven and of great quality."

Written By - Junaid Samodien

"We’ve made many, many steps in the right direction" - Andreas Bakkerud.

PHOTO CREDIT: GC Kompetition.

The Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel has made steps in the right direction after a difficult start to the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship. 

The doubleheader in Sweden saw Andreas Bakkerud qualify for the final, and finish in the position he started - 6th, while his teammate Liam Doran had a weekend to forget after his Megane R.S. RX suffered from a number mechanical failures. 

Round 3 in Kouvola-Finland saw Doran claim an eight-place finish after Q1, but that is where his luck ended. The British Bomb retired from Q2 with prop shaft failure, while Q3 saw him retire from the session with a broken rim and broken rear upright due to contact at turn one. 

Andreas Bakkerud on the other hand had a much smoother Saturday with consistent top-ten finishes in the three qualifying heats and ranked seventh in the intermediate classification meaning he was through to the semi-finals, while his teammate was done for the day. 

Sunday (round 4) got off to a costly start after the FIA Stewards fined the team €5,000 for a breach of the COVID-19 supplementary regulations. 

However, in a statement issued to DirtFish.com, GCK explained the reason for the breach of COVID-19 regulations: "Some of our team members missed this morning’s temperature check at the entrance gate by mistake, having used a different gate that was open to enter the circuit."

"Having arrived from a different direction today, the team members entered through the first open gate leading to their team structure to start their working day.

"However, this gate was not manned and the guys therefore missed their morning temperature check. Upon realizing, they were asked to go and retake their tests, which of course everyone did promptly and successfully."

Round 4 of the championship got off to a wet start in Kouvola. A wet day that brought tons of action and an epic comeback from Liam Doran who fought his way from 17th to 14th overall. 

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX. 

In a bold call on a moist track, Doran bolted on a set of slicks and immediately went backwards off the line to finish the session 13th overall. The Brit drove a fantastic Q2, and while leading, his hopes went rolling away after a broken wheel bearing sent him sliding off the track. 

Speaking to Niel Cole, World RX paddock reporter directly after the race, Doran said: "I might as well stay at home and let someone else drive. I don't know how much longer I can do this."

Doran came out swinging in Q3 posting the fifth fastest time, but it wasn't enough to see the him progress to the semi-finals. He missed out on a spot in the semi-finals by 5 points. 

"Happy with that clean last run today," Doran said. "I think it showed that the car and I have the pace to perform, we just haven’t been able to put it fully together yet and perform as a pair. We changed the car’s set up throughout the day and you could definitely feel the difference in the last qualifier."

Meanwhile, Andreas Bakkerud claimed a ninth-place finish in round 3, and mounted a fightback on Sunday in the wet conditions.

Bakkerud claimed a second-place finish behind Mattias Ekstrom in Q1, which slotted him into fifth-place overall. Despite some challenges with traction at the start, Q2 saw Bakkerud put down a great run boldly overtaking Hansen on the last lap to finish in 3rd.

Q3 saw, Andreas finish in second just ahead of Timmy Hansen, which saw the Norweigan claiming a spot in the semi-final with a fifth-place finish overall. 

The Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel driver would line-up in the fastest semi-final with the likes of Mattias Ekstrom, Johan Kristoffersson, etc. And despite crossing the line in fourth-place, Juha Rytkonen was handed a five-second penalty, which promoted the Norwegian to the final. 

The final didn't quite go the way Bakkerud expected despite sneaking up the inside of Timur Timerzyanov and Timmy Hansen at turn one. Timur fought back into turn two pushing Andreas wide, with Timmy getting through. From there, he was unable to make any progress after his windscreen was filled with mud meaning he would race all the way to the checkered flag blind and would finish the final in sixth-place. 

"Overall, we’ve made many, many steps in the right direction - we didn’t have any big technical issues but the super tricky conditions impacted our overall performance," Bakkerud said. "We’re proud to have put the car into the final to fight against 5 top drivers and this is where I think we should play all the time."

"Considering the quickly changing conditions, I think we tactically played our cards right but had some small issues in the semi-finals and finals, which we need to analyse further and work on ahead of Riga. I have full confidence that we will be spraying champagne at the end of the day there."

Written By - Junaid Samodien

Doran ready to mount Finland fightback.

PHOTO CREDIT: GCK.

Liam Doran is looking forward to mounting a fight-back after retiring from round three of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship at Kouvola-Finland today.

The Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel have been working hard to solve the technical issues that plagued Doran in Sweden last weekend. There hard work paid off in the opening stages of the weekend for both RX Cartel drivers. 

"I think everybody saw what happened in Sweden and that’s not good for anyone but we worked really hard this week and hopefully turned it around," Doran said. "I’ve got a lot of confidence in the car and in the team, so of course, I’m not 100% confident after last weekend but I’m not going to give up, that wouldn’t be me.”

The British Bomb got off to a strong start finishing eighth in the standing after Q1. Doran lined up alongside teammate Bakkerud in Q2, but later retired due to a broken prop shaft. 

Q3 saw the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel driver sending it around the outside of the field to lead into turn one, but after some rear contact, he later retired due to a broken rim and broken rear upright. 

Doran is a former winner at the Kouvola circuit, one he says suits his flat out driving style. “This is definitely a great track for me, I love it. Probably one of the biggest things is when you enjoy driving a track you usually do quite well. It’s quite a flamboyant track, it requires a lot of commitment round the blind corners and crests and encourages aggressive driving. It’s my sort of track," he said. 

"We showed some promising pace this morning and can see the potential of the car. The broken prop shaft in Q2 put us on the back foot and meant I had to push massively in Q3, where contact resulted in us having to retire, which is frustrating of course but is what makes rallycross what it is. The track here is one of my favourites and it suits my driving style so much, so I’m just looking ahead to tomorrow, where we can hopefully build on this morning’s performance."

Written By - Junaid Samodien

"I’m really proud of our performance" - Andreas Bakkerud.

PHOTO: FIA World RX Media

The second round of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship, saw Andreas Bakkerud put down an impressive performance as he led the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel into the final, only missing out on a podium spot due to a technical issue following contact in the earlier semi-final.

The Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel driver faced a number of setbacks in the opening round of the season on Saturday. It was no different for his teammate Liam Doran, who had a number of issues - prop shaft failure and driveshaft issues. 

It did not get any better on Sunday for the British Bomb who struggled with more technical gremlins as both prop shafts and the drive shaft broke leaving him without any gears or control and forced him to retire after Q3. 

Whilst Doran's weekend was plagued by issues, Bakkerud had a much better Sunday ranked third overall in the intermediate rankings after three qualifying heats. 

Despite damage in the semi-finals after contact with Timmy Hansen, Andreas showed his incredible driving skills defending and hanging onto P3 after coming under immense pressure from Hansen, Timur Timerzyanov, and Krisztian Szabo to progress to the final. 

Despite the team working hard to turn the Megane around in time for the final, the car’s broken driveshaft made a comeback in lap 2 of the final which meant Bakkerud had no chance to fight for a podium spot in Sweden, and ultimately finishing in sixth place.

"I’m really proud of our performance today," Bakkerud said. "We made massive steps and I can see where we’ll be able to go with the GCK Megane R.S. RX."

"I now hold the record for the only person having raced their way to the final in 5 different cars, so that’s not too bad either. I know we’re just a step or two away from the podium, so bring on Finland - I’m ready."

 Written By - Junaid Samodien