2016 World RX: Petter Solberg opens the season with a victory

The double world rallycross champion Petter Solberg wins the first round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship at Montalegre, Portugal. The Norwegian superstar opens the new season by winning the exciting finale against five rivals who showed the most speed and skills during the four qualifying heats and two semifinal runs.

Solberg’s Citroen DS3 Supercar was the first car on the grid of the final race and he managed to convert that advantage to victory. Johan Kristoffersson started with Volkswagen Polo RX from the front row and he was chasing Solberg, but they had a contact after Solberg came out from jocker lap and VW Polo suffered the damage which ruined all the efforts of Swedish driver.

Sebastien Loeb reached the finals in his maiden WorldRX event

Nine-time world rally champion and rallycross rookie Sebastien Loeb was the only Peugeot driver to reach the final. Unfortunately for him, mechanical problems and damaged car put him down on fifth place. Robin Larsson (Audi A1) and Toomas Heikkinen (Audi S1) finished second and third respectively, with Andreas Bakkerud missed the podium with brand-new Ford Focus RS RX.

DTM star and EKS RX team owner Mattias Ekstrom was the top qualifier in the intermediate classification after four qualifying heats. He won two of four heats and secured the pole position in his semifinal group. He didn’t get further, same as Liam Doran and Timmy Hansen. The other drivers who didn’t pass semifinal were Kevin Eriksson, Davy Jeanney and Anton Marklund.