World RX: Ekstrom wins at Hockenheimring, amazing progress for Ken Block

Two EKS RX Audi S1 Supercars dominated in the final of the Hockenheim RX, the second round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, at Hockenheimring. EKS RX team boss Mattias Ekstrom wins ahead of teammate Toomas Heikkinen.

The hero of the Sunday’s races was American Ken Block, who entered the semifinals as last in the order of twelve drivers and takes third place at the end. Other finalists were Petter Solberg, Liam Doran and Robin Larsson.

World RX races was held inside the stadium section of the Hockenheimring

Spectacular semifinal race

Prior to te final run, we witnessed to the one of the most exciting races in the World RX history. In the Semifinal 2 race Johan Kristoffersson was leading for much of the race, despite the early damage on the rear left wheel. After lots of bumps and collisions Liam Doran took the victory in the 6-lap race, ahead of Solberg and Block, while Kristoffersson, Kevin Eriksson and Janis Baumanis ended their competition.

In the first semifinal race there were also plenty of action, with three Audis in the front, while Sebastien Loeb, Davy Jeanney and Andreas Bakkerud didn’t pass to the final.

Timmy Hansen’s Peugeot is on fire

Timmy Hansen’s fiery misfortune

The one who didn’t pass to the semifinal, despite great drive in the Saturday’s Q4, was Timmy Hansen. His Peugeot 208 was catched by fire in Q3. The mechanics made a great job and repaired the car for Q4, in which Timmy made a second best time.

Unfortunately for Team Peugeot-Hansen, Timmy’s repaired car was under allowed weight and he was disqualified. That promoted Ken Block, who was 13th qualifier, to the Semifinals.

Solberg missed the podium at Hockenheimring but he’s still in the championship lead

Ekstrom and Solberg together on the top

After two championship rounds Mattias Esktrom and defending champion Petter Solberg are sharing the lead, with 48 points. Toomas Heikkinen isn’t far, he is just three points short. In the teams’ standings, EKS RX is in dominant lead ahead of Volkswagen RX Sweden, while Hoonigan Racing Division jumped over the Team Peugeot-Hansen to the third place.

The next championship round is just a week ahead, at Belgian Circuit Jules Tacheny.

Check the full results of the Hockenheim RX event

Photos: fiaworldrallycross.com