The second-to-last round of this year’s FIA World Rallycross Championship at the Estering in northern Germany has quite literally shocked Austria’s STARD team, whose Latvian driver Janis Baumanis, finished ninth overall, ahead of Peugeot-Hansen‘s lead driver, nine-time World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb, by posting faster times than the French ace in three of the four qualifiers.
As they both progressed to the semi-final stage, they both fell victims to the infamous first turn of the German racetrack in their respective races, and both of them finished their semis in fourth place, meaning neither of them would go on to the final. As a result of his better qualifying performance, Baumanis would be awarded ninth-overall in the event’s standings, ahead of eleventh classified Loeb.
As for STARD’s other driver, double former European champion Timur Timerzyanov of Russia, his seventeenth-place qualifying meant he would not only miss out on the semi-finals, but also on a points-scoring finish by just one position.
The next challenge for both Baumanis and Timerzyanov, the season finale, comes in just over a month (10-12 November) on the all-new rallycross layout at Killarney International Raceway in Cape Town, South Africa.
