Double heat win for Frenchman Davy Jeanney

Team Peugeot-Hansen’s Davy Jeanney is leading the ALL-INKL.COM World RX of Germany, round five of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy, after the Frenchman stormed his way to two heat victories at the wheel of his Peugeot 208 RX Supercar.

Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Reinis Nitiss is second after two top-three heat times, while Volkswagen Sweden’s Tord Linnerud rounds off the top three. Reigning World RX Champion Petter Solberg was quickest in free practice and is fifth overall.

Out of the total 35 Supercars that started in Germany, Tommy Rustad was fourth quickest and topped the table out of the 18 Supercar drivers eligible to score points in the FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX). Jean-Baptiste Dubourg is second in Euro RX, while Frode Holte is third in his Hyundai i20. Volkswagen Sweden’s Ole Christian Veiby and Albatec Racing’s Jerome Grosset-Janin are fourth and fifth in Euro RX respectively.

A lot of things went wrong today, it’s not been good.

Mattias Ekstrom

Jeanney took his first heat win of 2015, and followed it up with a second shortly after. “I’m very happy to be fastest in both heats today and I’m feeling more confident in the car,” declared Jeanney, who finished runner-up in European Rallycross in 2013. “I had a very good start in the first heat and then lap after lap, my times kept improving. The second heat was a big race with the likes of Timmy [Hansen] and Johan [Kristofferson] beside me but I had another good start and the car was perfect.”

Linnerud didn’t have the best start to his weekend when he rolled his Volkswagen Polo in practice but ended the day in third place. The Norwegian summarised his day: “I braked too late which meant I had to take a different line on the circuit where the grip wasn’t so good. I hit the sand and rolled the car onto its roof. The team repaired the car before the first heat and I was sixth. I didn’t have the best start for the second heat but there was a lot of action at the first corner and I managed to come out ahead. I didn’t take too many risks after that but tomorrow I can push a bit harder and maybe I can be faster.”

Last year’s German RX runner-up and EKS team owner Mattias Ekstrom had a dramatic day. The two-time DTM Champion explained: “A lot of things went wrong today, it’s not been good. Firstly, we had some problems during free practice and changed the engine before the heats. In heat one I had a broken throttle cable and had to retire, then in the next heat we had a sensor problem. It’s been an unlucky day, for sure, but we will come back tomorrow and see what we can do.”

Round one winner Johan Kristoffersson was second quickest in heat one and was on course for a top-three time in heat two before the Swede clipped the entrance of the Joker Lap, which cost him valuable seconds. He ends today seventh overall.

TouringCar and Super1600 categories

The support categories at the fifth round of World RX have completed three heats today, where Philip Gehrman and Ernestas Staponkus lead the TouringCar and Super1600 categories respectively.

Ford Fiesta driver Gehrman was thirteenth fastest in the first TouringCar heat, but fought back in the second and third runs – a pair of fastest times elevating him to the top of the overnight standings. Staponkus was fastest in heat two in Super1600, while Russian driver Timur Shigabutdinov had a consistent day and was second fastest twice to be second overall. Dane Ulrik Linnemann is third after setting the fastest time in heat three.

Tomorrow’s action begins at 8.30am (local time) with warm-up for all classes. Heats three and four will run from 10am, while the S1600, TouringCar and Supercar semi-finals/finals are scheduled from 2pm.

FIA World Rallycross