Norway WRX: Bakkerud completes first-ever qualifying sweep

Bakkerud raced fellow Norwegian Petter Solberg and Sebastien Loeb in the final race of Q4 where Solberg made the best start and took his joker on lap one while Bakkerud led the pack on the main circuit.

Followed by Loeb and the French driver’s Peugeot-Hansen team mate Timmy Hansen, Bakkerud set the fastest lap of the weekend on the second tour before taking his joker at the start of lap three, returning to the main circuit ahead of Solberg.

When Loeb and Hansen took their jokers on the fourth lap, Loeb dropped to third on track while Hansen was fifth, behind Timur Timerzyanov.

The Peugeot-Hansen team were strong on day two, in Norway, Loeb second fastest overall in Q3 and fourth quickest in Q4 to be third at the Intermediate Classification, heading into the semi-finals.

Timerzyanov was fastest in morning warm-up and set consistent times through the remaining two qualifiers to maintain his overnight position of second, between Bakkerud and Loeb.

Solberg is fourth overall at the Intermediate stage, with Hansen fifth and series leader Mattias Ekstrom sixth, the Swede taking his joker lap early in his Q4 race while his team mate Toomas Heikkinen followed race leader Johan Kristoffersson.

The latter pair took their jokers on the final lap, Ekstrom taking the lead while Kristoffersson followed his countryman home in second to be behind Ekstrom in the overall standings, in seventh.

Latvian Janis Baumanis also raced in Q4 with Ekstrom and Heikkinen and would have set a faster time but for running very wide on the entry to the second corner on the fourth lap.

Despite that, the reigning European Super1600 champion is eighth overall with Heikkinen ninth and Robin Larsson, who scored a podium at the Norwegian event last year, tenth.

Munnich Motorsport’s Reinis Nitiss and two-time 2015 World RX event winner Davy Jeanney have both made it into the semi-finals.

Ford Fiesta driver Kevin Eriksson is the first man to miss out, the Swede being forced wide by Ekstrom in the first lap joker in Q4.

While his young team mate Bakkerud dominated at the front, Ken Block retired from his Q4 race with damaged steering and didn’t make the semi-finals, while Anton Marklund’s torrid weekend continued on day two.

The Swede suffered from a broken driveshaft in Q3, a solid time in Q4 not doing enough to lift him into the semis while JRM Racing repaired Liam Doran’s Mini RX in time for Q3.