World RX: Hat-trick for Mattias Ekström

Mattias Ekström wins again! The regining world rallycross champion made a hat-trick of wins in the first three rounds of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship. After winning in Barcelona and Portugal, the Swedish ace in the #1 EKS RX Audi S1 wins today at Hockenheimring.

Johan Kristoffersson (PS RX Volkswagen Sweden) and Timmy Hansen (Team Peugeot-Hansen) secured the all-Swedish podium in the exciting Final at the wet and muddy track. Three teams were represented in the Final as other finalists were Petter Solberg (4th), Sebastien Loeb (5th) and Toomas Heikkinen (6th).

Loeb was the fastest qualifier but missed a podum in Final

No podium for the fastest qualifier Loeb

Sebastien Loeb was the leading driver after four qualifying heats on Friday and Saturday. He won Q1 and Q2. The winners of other two qualifying heats on Saturday were Petter Solberg and Timmy Hansen. The event format was different compared to usual two-day schedule because the World RX event is a part of DTM weekend, so Semi Final and Final were scheduled for Sunday.

On Sunday morning, drizzling conditions made a track slippery and drivers had problems to adjust their cars. Kevin Hansen even crashed during a warm-up lap but the mechanics repaired a car.

Six drivers who participated in Semi Final but didn’t manage to pass further were Kevin Eriksson, Kevin Hansen, Reinis Nitiss, Timur Timerzyanov, Timo Scheider and Ken Block. Twenty-two Supercar drivers took part in the Hockenheim’s round of the world championship.