All three Ford OMSE drivers had a mixed weekend of results at the FIA World Rallycross Championship round held in Spain and the team now prepares to fight for the 2015 Teams’ Championship.
Andreas Bakkerud, Reinis Nitiss and former double Euroupean Rallycross champion Timur Timerzyanov all made it through the heat stages where Nitiss won his his heat four race.
“We had some good fights in the qualifying heats and some good results,” explained Nitiss, whilst team-mate Bakkerud rued some slightly slower heat times which affected his grid position for the Semi-Final.
“It was very difficult to gain positions on this track, so a lot of it came to down to positions on the grid,” said Bakkerud. “It’s hard when you’re starting from the outside on the grid. I tried my best and it didn’t pay off. It was a bit unlucky all weekend in that regard, but, of course, you create your luck: we need to make some changes in the earlier heats to make sure we get those better positions.”
Bakkerud and Nitiss raced against each other in their Ford Fiesta ST Supercars in the first Semi-Final, however both drivers losing out on a chance for the Final but scoring valuable Championship points for the Teams’ Trophy after Bakkerud finished in fourth place and Nitiss finished in sixth place. In Semi-Final two Timur Timerzyanov also missed out on making it to the final after finishing in fifth place.
The FIA World Rallycross Championship now moves on to Turkey for round eleven of the series where Ford OMSE lies in second place in the Teams Trophy behind Team Peugeot-Hansen. Bakkerud took victory last year in Turkey and is hoping to recapture some form.
“I felt I was driving well, with no mistakes, and drove what the car could handle on this track, but I’m still looking ahead to the remaining events to see what we can clean up,” said Bakkerud. “I won in Turkey last year, so I have a good feeling going in there and will try to use that as an advantage. The boss is already studying every little thing from this weekend to help see what we can do better.”
