Round seven of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship saw Sébastien Loeb play a front-running role once again, this time in front of a record-breaking 45+ strong crowd at Holjes, Sweden, where he claimed Team Peugeot Hansen’s fifth podium honors of the campaign.
The two PEUGEOT 208 WRX drivers kicked off the 2017 season’s second half by putting additional pressure on the championship’s provisional leaders. Sébastien Loeb started the ‘Magic’ weekend at Höljes in emphatic fashion with Q1 victory.He then came second in Sunday’s first semi-final before adding another top-three result to his burgeoning WRX record.
After his crash in Norway, Timmy Hansen had a new shell for his home meeting where he concluded qualifying in fifth place. He ultimately bagged fourth spot, just behind his French team-mate.
“I love the team spirit you always get at this round," exclaimed Timmy Hansen (Driver of the #21 Puegoet WRX. "It wasn’t a bad weekend for me because I reached the final for the seventh time from seven starts this year. Unfortunately, I still haven’t managed to finish on the topstep of the podium this season but I’m not far off. We were really strong in qualifying, in the semis and in the final and it’s great to be in the thick of the fight.”
Team Peugeot Hansen’s harvest of 42 points at Holjes has strengthened its grip on second place in the provisional Teams’ classification.
It was a frustrating weekend for Kevin Hansen, however. The reigning European champion was running well in his 2016-specification PEUGEOT 208 WRX when a half-shaft failure ruined his chances of an appearance in the semi-finals.
“Everything went well for me on Saturday," said Kevin Hansen, "I had a good rhythm and I posted some decent lap times which was encouraging. My time in this morning’s warm-up session made me think that form would continue today, so I was very disappointed when a driveshaft broke at the start of Q3. I did my best to recover the situation in Q4 but the track was fairly slow so I couldn’t manage any higher than 13th after qualifying. That was so frustrating because I believe I was faster than I have been since the start of the season.”
FINAL POSITIONS – HOLJES (July 2, 2017)
1. Johan Kristoffersson (VolkswagenPolo GTI)
2. Andreas Bakkerud (Ford Focus RS)
3. Sébastien Loeb (PEUGEOT 208 WRX)
4. Timmy Hansen (PEUGEOT 208 WRX)
5. Kevin Eriksson (Ford Fiesta)
6. Janis Baumanis (Ford Fiesta)