Timmy Hansen leads the WorldRX of Turkey at the end of the first days action at the Istanbul Park Circuit, extending his run of leading WorldRX events on the first day to the past six events.
The Team Peugeot-Hansen driver was fastest in heat one in his Peugeot 208 WRX and followed that performance up to go quick enough to keep the lead overnight.
“I can’t believe I’m leading again, but it just goes to show how good the Peugeot 208 is. It’s so easy to drive and whatever I do at the moment just feels natural. I just drive by my instinct and I get really quick times, it seems the perfect combination,” explained day one leader Hansen.
“I expected bad grip from last year but I have been driving on ice at home a lot and slippery conditions is something that I love. I think this track combines my racing background and my ice driving days in Sweden so I feel very at home on this track.”
EKSRX Team Principal and driver Mattias Ekstrom lies in second place overnight, having gone quickest in heat two in his Audi S1 Quattro.
Latvian driver Reinis Nitiss showed an improved turn of speed to put his Ford Olsbergs Fiesta in third place overnight and he was very happy to be back near the front again: “We are back in business, this track isn’t easy to drive but the dirt section is very similar to Barcelona. You need to really think about what you’re doing, it’s easy to make a mistake.”
Petter Solberg lies in fourth place overnight, having struggled to find a setup on his Citroen DS3 that was able to cope with the slippery track conditions: “We are trying to find the right set-up, it’s a hard balance between going too hard and going too soft.”
2014 TurkeyRX winner Andreas Bakkerud lies in fifth place with Volkswagen Team Sweden’s Johan Kristoffersson behind him in sixth position with his team-mate Tord Linnerud further back in ninth place.
In the RX Lites catergory, Thomas Bryntesson is the overnight leader ahead of Championship leader Kevin Hansen. Britain’s Tom Onslow-Cole lies in an impressive third place overnight ahead of Kevin Eriksson in fourth, the Swede fighting back in the second heat having rolled his car in the first race.
