Timmy Hansen crowned 2019 World RX champion in Cape Town

Timmy Hansen (Red Bull Peugeot 208) won the 2019 World Rallycross Championship at Killarney in the Western Cape in a dramatic finale on Sunday that saw the two title leaders clash on the opening lap and spin out.

Niclas Gronholm (GRX Taneco Hyundai i30) then snatched the race lead which he held to the end, winning the Sabat Rallycross of South Africa, but he was not involved in the title dispute. There are 196 races in a World Rallycross season and the title fight came down to race number 196.

Title hopeful Andreas Bakkerud (Monster RX Cartel Audi S1) ended in second place, earning enough points to tie at the top of the points log with Hansen. The title was then determined on a count back of wins, with Hansen having four to Bakkerud’s one. At the time of writing, the FIA stewards were investigating the race incident. Third place overall at Rallycross SA went to the Russian Timur Timerzyanov (GRX Taneco Hyundai i30), with Timmy and Kevin Hansen (Red Bull Peugeot 208) ending in fourth and fifth respectively.

WILD STUFF. The World Rallycross brigade did a massive Western Cape crowd proud at the Killarney circuit on the weekend. Here Andreas Bakkerud (Monster Energy Audi S1) leads the field in one of the semi-final races. Pictures: Dave Ledbitter.

The road to victory was hard-fought between 16 of the world’s fastest Rallycross Supercars under the shadow of Table Mountain. Timmy Hansen took top honours in Qualifying One from his title rival Bakkerud by 0.28 seconds with Finn Gronholm taking third place.

Kevin Hansen was fourth ahead of Timo Scheider (All-Inkl.Com Seat Ibiza) and Timerzyanov. Qualifying Two saw the Hyundais top the time sheets with Gronholm beating Timerzyanov by 0.3 seconds. Timmy Hansen was a relatively lowly ninth with Bakkerud down in 11th place. When the times were tallied, Gronholm led the overnight standings from Hansen, Russian Timerzyanov, Scheider, Kevin Hansen and Bakkerud. Hansen set the weekend’s fastest lap time in Qualifying Three yesterday en route to winning the session.

WINNER ON THE DAY. Niclas Gronholm (GRX Taneco Hyundai i30) won the day’s spoils at Killarney.

Bakkerud won his Q3 race as well, while Gronholm jumped the start of race three and had to complete two joker laps as a result. Despite this, he blitzed all-comers in his heat to take another race win. The momentum was with Hansen after Q3 followed by Gronholm and Bakkerud.

Kevin Hansen rose to fourth ahead of Timerzyanov. The final qualifying race saw Gronholm win again from Timmy Hansen and Bakkerud with Kevin Hansen in fourth. The fight to make the semi-finals raged throughout the field as Oliver Bennett punted Furazhkin into the wall in turn six as the Russian’s Skoda slowed unexpectedly; the Mini man scraped into the semis at the expense of Jere Kalliokoski (Team Stard Ford Fiesta).

The two semi-final races were won by Bakkerud and Hansen, leaving the title chase wide open, still separated by two points with the final six laps of the year to run.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.