Timur Timerzyanov led a GRX 1-2 in the third qualifying session of this weekend’s FIA World Rallycross Championship Canadian round, beating teammate Niclas Gronholm by a mere two tenths of a second.
Qualifying three kicked off with a three car race involving Timmy Hansen, Liam Doran and Jani Paasonen. Both Hansen and Doran suffered poor runs in Q2 and were placed in the first race as a result. Paasonen tried to make a move around the outside of Doran but made contact with the Brit, sending them towards the wall and allowing Hansen to take the lead.
Doran opted to take the joker on the first lap while Hansen remained out front. Paasonen retired from the race on lap 3 with a suspected engine problem, leaving Doran to easily move to P2. Hansen jokered on the last lap and came out just in front of Doran, leaving him to take the win in race one. Speaking afterwards he said: “The car felt good out there,i did everything i could, hopefully it’s good enough“.
Another three car affair followed in race two, with Cyril Raymond, Guillaume De Ridder and Kevin Hansen lining up for it. Raymond took the lead into turn one while Hansen took the joker. A largely uneventful race saw Raymond take the win from Kevin Hansen even if Hansen appeared to be quicker than Raymond. Raymond’s time was only good enough for third.
Anton Marklund, Krizstian Szabo, Andreas Bakkerud, Timur Timerzyanov and Oliver Bennett lined up for race three, the first five car race of the day. It was Timerzyanov who managed to take the lead into turn one while Bakkerud made an incredible move up the inside of three cars. Marklund and Bennett dove into the joker on lap 1.
Timerzyanov was flying, setting the fastest lap of the day as he went on to take the win and the fastest time by over two seconds. Bakkerud managed P2. A very happy Timerzyanov said post race: “I felt that i had a seventh or eighth gear out there. I was pushing hard and i nearly put the car in the wall in the last sector. I think i should get points for the drifting i did!”
Pure chaos occured in the final race of this session as five cars jostled for the same piece of track. Timo Scheider was sent flying after contact with Guerlain Chicherit and Rokas Baciuska on the way down into turn one. Chicherit was forced to retire, as was Scheider. Niclas Gronholm managed to avoid all the carnage and took the lead into the first corner.
Janis Baumanis chased him hard but ended up sliding off into the tyre barrier at the last corner, allowing Baciuska to take P2. Gronholm almost mimicked Baumanis,sliding wide at the last corner but managing to avoid the barrier. That mistake would prove costly however as he crossed the line to go P2 by two tenths of a second, meaning Timur Timerzyanov took the Q3 win.
Gronholm still leads the standings going into the last qualifying session of the weekend which gets underway very shortly.
