Andreas Bakkerud has been released from hospital following a big crash for the Norwegian in his semi-final at the World RX of Latvia last weekend.
Bakkerud attempted a move down the inside of Timo Scheider at turn four but the two made contact which saw him hit the wall hard and come to a sudden stop in the middle of the track.
The front end of the Renault Megane was completely destroyed, but most importantly Bakkerud came away unscathed.
He said: “I caught up to Scheider twice and knew I had the opportunity to overtake him. I saw him break a little late to defend and I took a wider line, cut back to then take the inside line. Then I just felt one big punch into the front side of my car that changed its direction entirely and hit the barrier on the left doing 120km/h at the time.
“There were parts everywhere and I literally just closed my eyes hoping that Marklund and Doran would avoid me. At that speed, you never know what can happen. The track medical team did a great job and the Riga hospital did a lot of tests on me, which I really appreciate.“
He added: “It’s moments like this that you so appreciate the work we’ve done on our safety equipment in the Megane, the seatbelts, our hybrid device, the helmet and so on – you sometimes take it for granted but now I’m just happy that we use safety equipment that is well proven and of great quality.”
Bakkerud did not have the run of the luck in both turn one and two throughout the event and he believed he was pushed out each time but was reasonably happy with his performance in qualifying.
The Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel driver added: “Today was really a day about consistency for us in Riga and the target was the podium for sure. I felt we were strong in Q1 and Q2 especially, then we struggled a bit in Q3, got safely to the semi-finals and saw a lot of action there.”
Some big repairs are already underway to get Bakkerud’s car rebuilt and ready for the next event of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship, a double-header in Barcelona on 17-18 October.
