
Missed tyre smoke and launch control? Then don’t sweat it. The season opening round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy burst into life this weekend, amidst a haze of dirt and smashed carbon-fiber at the legendary Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.
Andreas Bakkerud opened the 2017 season in awesome style, grabbing a hard fought third placed podium in the event’s grand final just behind the ex-DTM duo of Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider.
Bakkerud’s podium was made all the more impressive considering the 25 year-old Norwegian fought back from – in his own words – one of the hardest crashes of his career during the thunderstorms of Saturday’s Q2. Running around the outside at the start, Bakkerud was battling for the lead and lost the rear of his car on the greasy side of the track. The resulting slide put him into the wall and heavily damaged his Ford Focus RSRX. Overnight the Hoonigan Racing Division mechanics went into overdrive to fix Bakkerud’s ride for Q3 and Q4, and the rest as they say is history. Bakkerud put in stunning drives to win Q4 and qualify on the front row of semi final two; prior to grabbing a haul of silverware at the final race of the event.