PoloDriver

It was a mixed two days for Marklund Motorsport at the ninth round of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship in Germany over the weekend of 20-21 September. The Swedish team fielded three Polo RX Supercars, with regular drivers Anton Marklund and Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen being joined by German Ronny Wechselberger.

Former WRC ace Petter Solberg won the event – his fourth victory of the season – while second place was taken by Mattias Ekström. Heikkinen finished fifth in the Supercar final, moving him up the overall drivers’ leaderboard to sit under Solberg who currently leads the standings.

Marklund and Wechselberger were victims of the ever-changeable and unpredictable wet conditions at the Estering near Buxtehude, both knocked out in the preliminary heats. Wechselberger drove the car that Patrick Carpentier used to make the final at the seventh round of the series in Canada.

Overall, Marklund Motorsport remains in second place in the team standings, trailing the leaders by just ten points. The tenth of the twelve events in the 2014 calendar will take place in Italy at the new Franciacorta RX track in Brescia over 27-28 September.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 212

2 Toomas Heikkinen, 160

3 Reinis Nitiss, 158

4 Andreas Bakkerud, 136

5 Timur Timerzyanov, 128

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 294

2 Volkswagen Marklund, 284

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 250

4 PSRX, 204
5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 81

It was a mixed result for the Polo RX-powered Marklund Motorsport team at the World Rallycross of France at the 1.1km-long Circuit de Lohéac in Brittany, over 6-7 September. Reporting difficulties in getting its powerful Polos set-up, both Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinnen and Anton Marklund made it through the semi-finals but failed to qualify for the Supercar final itself, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

A difficult first day saw engineers tweak the set-up of Heikkinen’s Polo and he finished fourth at the overnight point. Speaking on day two of the event, the Finn said: ‘There was a bit of traffic in the first two heats yesterday, but things were not as good as we expected with us, too. We were a lot slower yesterday. We changed the whole setup on my car – it was a big change so it was a risk, but it has worked.’

But it didn’t work enough. The truncated action saw Heikkinen slip down the overall drivers’ standings to third place, nine points behind Reinis Nitiss. Marklund meanwhile remains fifth overall.

There was no shortage of thrills and spills for the 70,000-strong crowd, though, as former WRC ace Petter Solberg took a sensational victory at the eighth round of the 2014 season at the home of French rallycross. Round nine of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship will take place at Estering in Germany on 20-21 September.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 185
2 Reinis Nitiss, 157

3 Toomas Heikkinen, 147

4 Andreas Bakkerud, 126

5 Anton Marklund, 124

US driver Tanner Foust finished sixth in his Volkswagen Polo RX Supercar at the sixth round of the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship in Daytona over 23-24 August.
The Top Gear USA presenter had a challenging race weekend which wasn’t without its problems.

Qualifying brought slick mud and a low finishing position thanks to a freshly-watered course. after a pair of solid heats, Foust once again faced problems in his semi-final when he suffered a major spin.

Braking serverly to avoid another car, Foust slid into the trackside tyre barrier. He was able to restart his 500bhp Polo RX and rejoin the race to finish third. That won him a spot in the final, bypassing the last chance qualifier.

Chaos is the best word to describe the 1-car final. The course was the longest in the series’ history, with each mile-long lap featuring fast straights punctuated by technical hairpin turns. The resulting traffic stacked up in the corners and contact was inevitable.

‘Fighting through traffic in those hairpins was absolute mayhem,’ said Foust. ‘In the final, with 10 cars on that track, it was packed. It almost felt like we were fighting for parking spots at the mall.’

Foust ran as high as third place, but suffered serious damage during a set-to with another close to the end of the eight-lap contest. It was everything he could do to take his Polo to the end. Even so, he was able to cross the line to earn sixth-place points.

‘I limped to the finish with a rear wheel that wasn’t attached at all and somehow still managed sixth,’ said Foust. ‘It was a crazy race and I feel for the Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross crew. They have their work cut out, but I have every confidence that we’ll be in great shape by the next round.’

Team-mate Scott Speed crashed out of the Daytona International Speedway final and posted a 10th-place result, while Hyundai driver Rhys Millen took the chequered flag. The Andretti Polo RXs were quick, though – Foust was at the top of the time chart in practice and set the fastest lap on race day.

Speed is currently third behind Piquet Jr and Ken Block with 190 points in the Drivers’ Championship with four race weekends remaining. Foust is seventh in the overall standings. The next rounds will take place (back-to-back) in Los Angeles on 20-21 September.

2014 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DAYTONA: FINAL RESULTS
1 Rhys Millen, #67 Hyundai/Rhys Millen Racing Veloster Turbo
2 Ken Block, #43 Hoonigan Racing Division Ford Fiesta ST
3 Bucky Lasek, #81 Subaru Rally Team USA WRX STI
4 Patrik Sandell, #18 Olsbergs MSE Ford Fiesta ST
5 Sverre Isachsen, #11 Subaru Rally Team USA WRX STI
6 Tanner Foust, #34 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Polo R

2014 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Nelson Piquet Jr, 245
2 Ken Block, 205

3 Scott Speed, 190
4 Joni Wiman, 188

5 Steve Arpin, 170



2014 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford, 561

2 Volkswagen, 330

3 Subaru, 272

4 Hyundai, 97

5 Chevrolet, 5

The Marklund Motorsport team’s trip overseas to the seventh round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship over the weekend of 9-10 August was rewarded with a second place for Anton Marklund and his Polo RX Supercar.

The young Swede has been consistently fast this season but has rarely translated the speed into results. That all changed last weekend. The 21 year-old Swede finished in the top five in all his heats, and won his semi-final to line-up against Petter Solberg on the front row of the grid of the final.

‘This has been a lot of fun,’ grinned Marklund. ‘I’ve managed to score points all day and driving down the long straight at speeds of around 190kmph is just amazing. Usually rallycross events are over two days so this has been a big challenge for my team to work over one day and they have done an amazing job.

‘It’s also really good for Volkswagen to have three out of four cars in the final and now we’re tied with Olsbergs MSE in the manufacturer standings too – it’s been a great weekend for the whole team.’

Marklund Motorsport had another success at WorldRX Canada, too. The 1.3km Trois-Rivières circuit Canada has a 59 per cent asphalt and 41 per cent gravel mix, which suited Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen well – the other regular driver for the Swedish team scoring a fifth place finish.

He now moves to second place in the drivers’ championship points table, while Marklund’s podium placing consolidates his fifth place.

The team fielded four Polo RXs at the event, with two for regular drivers Marklund and Heikinnen, and one each for Global Rallycross Championship driver Tanner Foust and former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Patrick Carpentier.

Carpentier made his RX debut in the event. The French Canadian proved a natural talent despite having only one short test ahead of the race. ‘I can’t explain how happy I am to have made it to the final. Before today my only aim was to reach the semis and to be in the final on my RX debut is more than I could ever have hoped for,’ he beamed.

Foust, who has appeared at previous rounds of the championship earlier in the season, suffered bad luck at Trois-Rivières. His Polo RX had driveshaft failure in practice and heat one, and the Marklund Motorsport team ran out of spares for his car.

The Rockstar Energy Drink-liveried Polo was the same car Foust drove in the Finnish round of the championship. It repeatedly suffered from driveshafts popping out when the US driver landed after heavy jumps, yet his team-mates cars were frustratingly trouble-free.

‘I’ve watched the other guys (Carpentier, Heikkinen and Marklund) hitting the jumps twice as hard as I was with no problems, so we really don’t know why it has been doing it,’ said a disappointed Foust. The Top Gear USA presenter also confirmed he may be appearing at another European round of the series.

Norway’s Petter Solberg took a sensational lights-to-flag victory at the World RX of Canada to become the first driver to win a round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship held outside of Europe.

Round eight of the series is the World RX of France which will be held in Lohéac on 6 and 7 September.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 155
2 Toomas Heikkinen, 135

3 Reinis Nitiss, 133

4 Andreas Bakkerud, 113

5 Anton Marklund, 111

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 = Ford Olsbergs MSE, 246
1 = Volkswagen Marklund, 246

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 185

4 PSRX, 147

5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 83

He’s the sixth different winner in as many rounds, but no matter, Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen drove his Polo RX Supercar to victory at the Belgian round of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship at Mettet. The young Finn showed consistently strong driving at the 1km-long Circuit Jules Tacheny over the weekend of 12-13 July.

Heikinnen and his 600bhp four-wheel drive Polo were third after the opening two heats, while team-mate Anton Marklund held first. But, during the final race, Heikinnen pulled out all the stops, to claim the top spot on the podium, with Marklund in fifth.

‘Topi’ was more than pleased with performance: ‘I am absolutely over the moon. It is my first World Rallycross Championship win and I hope now that this is just the start of a fantastic second half of the season.’

Victory in Belgium had added benefits for Heikinnen as he climbed one position in the World Championship standings. The Finn now lies third with 117 points. Marklund is currently fifth with 85 points.

Team Peugeot Hansen driver Timmy Hansen finished second with Johan Kristofferson third in another Polo – one of a pair run by the Volkswagen Dealer Team / Kristofferson Motorsport outfit in Sweden. Kristofferson’s podium position was only his second World RX outing this year, and was also crowned the winner of the third round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX).

‘This is only the second race for us and I would have been happy just finishing in the semi-finals,’ said Kristofferson who was also awarded the Monster Energy Super Charge Award after his rapid start. ‘To get to the final was amazing and to be on the podium is just the best feeling! We had a really good start in the final race as we were in pole position and I think that’s what really helped us get here.’

Other Polos in action over the 31 per cent gravel and 69 per cent circuit included local driver Francois Duval who lives less than 30 miles from Mettet. Piloting another Polo RX run by Marklund Motorsport, Duval is the only Belgian driver to win a round of the World Rally Championship.

He has a strong track record in rallycross after winning the Belgian round of the European Rallycross Championship when it was held at Maasmechelen back in 2010. ‘The car seems to be performing well and I’ll be aiming for a good result,’ explained Duval before the event. In the end, the Belgian set a good pace in the Belgian VW Club / Gordon and Raemaekers Polo RX, but finished the event out of the top twelve rankings.

The Polo S1600 of Christian Petrakovits finished fifth in Heat 4 of the Super 1600 category, while the Polo of Patrick Mertens came home fifth in the first semi-final of the Touring Car classification.

The next round of the championship will take place at the Circuit Trois-Rivières in Canada between 7-8 August.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 125
2 Reinis Nitiss, 122

3 Toomas Heikkinen, 117
4 Andreas Bakkerud, 99

5 Anton Marklund, 85

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 221

2 Volkswagen Marklund, 202

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 154
4 PSRX, 117

5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 60