The 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship reaches its gripping finale at San Luis in Argentina this weekend with only one title left to be decided: The Teams Championship. In what is the fifth time this year that the championship competes at a new circuit, this is also the first time that WorldRX has competed in South America where the passion for motorsport is huge.
There is a three way fight for both the Teams Championship and Second Place in the Drivers Championship between the works backed teams who have all seen one or both of their drivers taste success in the previous eleven rounds. Leading the way are the VW-Marklund Motorsport squad using their VW Polo Supercars with its highest placed driver and BelgiumRX victor Toomas “Topi” Heikkinen looking to secure second position in the Drivers Championship as well as help fellow driver Anton Marklund try to secure the Teams Championship.
However, only four points behind the VW-Marklund squad are the Swedish Ford OlsbergsMSE team whose Ford Fiesta Supercars have seen success this year, with NorwayRX winner Reinis Nitiss also in the hunt for second place in the Drivers Championship whilst recent TurkeyRX winner Andreas Bakkerud will look to bag important points for the team to try and snatch the title away in the final round and finish the year on a high.
The third team in the hunt for the Teams Trophy is the inform Team Peugeot-Hansen squad whose rapid development programme of their Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars have given Timmy Hansen his first win this year in Italy whilst the team have taken podium finishes in the last two events. Although the team is 39 points behind the leaders, both Hansen and team-mate Timur Timerzyanov have been rapid in recent events and carry the championship challenging monentum with them.
Hansen is also the third driver in with a chance of securing second place in the Drivers Championship.Whilst the fight will be raging for the Teams Championship, there some other interesting points to watch over the weekend. A total of 17 Supercars will be competing to win the first South American WorldRX event and there is plenty of talent to pursue this goal.
Liam Doran returns to the Monster Energy WorldRX squad joining regular driver Henning Solberg in the teams two Citroen DS3 Supercars. Doran hasn’t competed since the NorwayRX round and will be hoping to take the teams first WorldRX in 2014.
Meanwhile 2007 British Rallycross Champion Ollie O’Donavon joins Andy Scott at Albatec Racing to drive one of the teams Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars. O’Donovan returned to Rallycross action this year and is hoping to transfer his rapid speed from the British Championship to the World Championship, whilst Scott is looking to qualify for his eighth Semi-Final this year.
Petter Solberg has a new team-mate in World Rally Ace Manfred Stohl, who joins the newly crowned 2014 World Rallycross Champion at PSRX and will pilot the second Citroen DS3 Supercar. Local talent in the guise of former Argentine Rally Champion Miguel Baldoni joins the serious in a Hedstrom run Skoda Fabia Supercar.
Finally Kevin Eriksson, the 2014 RX Lites series Champion claims his prize by joining the Ford OlsbergsMSE squad and will pilot a third Ford Fiesta Supercar.The final round of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship, presented by Monster Energy takes place this weekend in San Luis, Argentina.
