PoloDriver

Volkswagen Marklund Polo RX driver Toomas Heikkinen narrowly missed out on the final at the fifth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Höljes last weekend (5-6 July), the Volkswagen Rallycross of Sweden. The 23-year old took fourth place in the 600bhp Polo RX Supercar in the semi-final. The Finn needed a third place finish to qualify for the final at the 1.2km Swedish circuit.

Team-mate Anton Marklund was also unfortunate at Höljes Motorstadion, missing out on reaching the semi-final by a very narrow margin. One heat victory, two heat second-place finishes and a breakdown caused by suspension and differentials failure was sadly not enough to qualify for the final race as one of the fastest six drivers.

Overall, though, Heikkinen is still in fourth place on 88 points in the championship standings, thanks to his four top 10 heat times, proving that consistent finishes can be just as important as winning races. Marklund is fifth on 64 points. Double DTM Champion Mattias Ekstrom won the event overall in his first outing, taking victory in the newly-developed Audi S1 Supercar.

Local Swedish rallycross stars Ole Christian Veiby and Johan Kristoffersson of Kristoffersson Motorsport also added to the Polo count, by putting their Local Dealer Team Polo RX Supercars through their paces.

The next races in the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship will be held on 12 and 13 June at the Circuit Jules Tacheny, in Mettet, Belgium. There will be more Volkswagen interest, too: rallycross star Francois Duval will appear in another Marklund Motorsport-prepared Polo RX Supercar.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Reinis Nitiss, 112
2 Petter Solberg, 103
3 Andreas Bakkerud, 90
4 Toomas Heikkinen, 88
5 Anton Marklund, 64

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 211
2 Volkswagen Marklund, 152
3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 123
4 PSRX, 117
5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 45