Anton Marklund leads the 2017 FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars after taking his first ever Euro RX win at the opening round in Spain.
With a 32 car field entered for the 2017 Euro RX of Spain and such a strong field of talent entered for the entire season, one man soon put down his marker to set the pace ahead of the rest: Anton Marklund.
Anton Marklund leads the Drivers Championship after the Euro RX of Spain. Credit: Marklund Motorsport
The Marklund Motorsport driver set his stall out early as he went fastest in every Qualifying Session apart from Q1 , where he was beaten by 2014 Champion Robin Larsson. Marklund kept his momentum as he went fastest in Semi-Final One and then went on to dominate the Supercar Final to take the win.
Behind Marklund, Hungarian driver Tamas Pal Kiss guided his Peugeot 208 WRX to second place whilst there was a fantastic battle for third place that roared between 2007 British Rallycross Champion Ollie O’Donovan and former World RX driver Rene Muennich in the Muennich Motorsport SEAT Ibiza RX.
O’Donovan and Muennich fought hard for the final podium place in Spain. Credit: Team RX Racing
O’Donovan took his joker at the end of lap four and came out ahead of Munnich, Henning Solberg in the Eklund Motorsport VW Beetle and Derek Tohill in the PFCRX Ford Fiesta. Munnich tried everything to get past the super defensive London based Irishman over the final laps however O’Donovan held on to take his first ever Euro RX podium.
Derek Tohill made the Euro RX Supercar Final whilst Tommy Rustad dropped out in the Semi-Finals. Credit: PFCRX
Early season favourites Robin Larsson and 2015 Euro RX Champion Tommy Rustad lost out at the Semi-Final stage. Contact between the two damaged Larsson’s Audi whilst the Albatec Racing driver lost ground and missed out on a spot in the Final by just under a second.
Several other drivers to lose out at the Semi-Final stage included Jerome-Grosset Janin, Martin Kaczmarski, Thomas Bryntesson in the JC Raceteknik Ford and Alexander Hvaal in the Hedstrom Motorsport Volkswagen Polo.
Tamas Pal Kiss sits in secind place in the Euro RX Drivers Championship after Round One. Credit: kisspaltamas.com
Marklund currently leads the Drivers Championship in the Supercar class with a maximum 30 points with Kiss a further eight points back with Ollie O’Donovan four points behind the Hungarian driver.
The second round of the 2017 FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars takes place at Hell in Norway on 9th- 11th June.
