Sweden’s Johan Kristoffersson looks set for yet another victory in this year’s FIA World Rallycross Championship round of France.
Q3
Local star Hervé Knapick dominates race 1, where fellow Frenchman Laurent Bouliou and Belgian Gregoire Demoustier collided on the first lap. Niclas Grönholm looked set to win R2, until eventually JB Dubourg caught him at the joker exit on the final lap. Kevin Eriksson and Timur Timerzyanov made heavy contact at the start of race 3, with the Swede retiring on the spot; Toomas Heikkinen wins from Timo Scheider. A bad R4 start for Petter Solberg who stalls on the grid, to the advantage of Mattias Ekström who leads both Peugeot drivers Timmy and Kevin Hansen to set the fastest time of the session. Not even rally legend Sébastien Loeb will be able to beat him in the following race, as he will finish third behind winner Andreas Bakkerud and Johan Kristoffersson, with the Swede retaining the overall lead and the Norwegian being handed a 5-second penalty.
Q4
Race 1 saw once again contact between Eriksson and Timerzyanov, with the Swede yet again losing precious time and the Russian winning. Grönholm clinched an easy victory in his race 2, where all French drivers (Emmanuel Anne, Gaetan Serazin and Guerlain Chicherit) repeatedly spun. Scheider and Reinis Nitiss battled for race 3 victory, with the German eventually crowned. Solberg dominated R4 in front of Kevin Hansen and Bakkerud, while Kristoffersson confirmed his top qualifier position with his second win of the weekend.
Going into the semis, these are the top-12:
Kristoffersson
Loeb
Ekström
T. Hansen
Solberg
Bakkerud
Block
K. Hansen
Scheider
Baumanis
Heikkinen
Nitiss
