PoloDriver

The penultimate round of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship in Instanbul, Turkey on 11-12 October saw strong performances from Polo RX drivers Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen and Anton Marklund, taking Marklund Motorsport to the top of the series’ team standings.

Heikkinen’s drive in his 500bhp Polo RX saw him hold on to second place in the Drivers’ Championship. His command over four gripping heats and battles with Timmy Hansen’s Peugeot 208 RX saw the young Finn score enough points to see him defend his runner-up position.

Former WRC ace Petter Solberg has already been crowned 2014 champion.

‘Volkswagen Marklund are now leading the teams’ standings by four points – we’ve been tied at the top on two separate occasions this year but now we are leading it by ourselves,’ explained Heikkinen.

‘My driving hasn’t been perfect this weekend, I made a few small mistakes but I’m happy to have got some crucial points for the team.’

Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Andreas Bakkerud was the overall winner of the World RX of Turkey. With Ford, Peugeot and Volkswagen all represented on the podium, the fight for the first ever Teams’ Championship will now be decided at the final round in San Luis, Argentina, on 28-29 November.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 250

2 Toomas Heikkinen, 200

3 Reinis Nitiss, 182
4 Timmy Hansen, 179

5 Andreas Bakkerud, 173
6 Anton Marklund, 159

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Volkswagen Marklund, 359
2 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 355

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 335

4 PSRX, 237
5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 102

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The tenth round of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship at the Autodromo di Franciacorta in Italy over the weekend of 27-28 September saw the Marklund Motorsport team edge closer to winning the series Team’s Championship title. Even though the Swedish outfit’s two drivers failed to make the Supercar final in their Polo RXs, enough points were scored to place the team within reach of the top of the championship table.

Anton Marklund and Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen finished seventh and eighth respectively in Italy, meaning that Marklund Motorsport now tie with Ford Olsbergs MSE at the top of the Teams’ Championship standings table with 313 points – with only two rounds of the season remaining. Heikkinen is second in the Drivers’ Championship, but sadly lost out on the title to former WRC ace Petter Solberg, who finished third in Bresica, taking the top spot. Overall victory went to Timmy Hansen.

A surprise leader at the Autodromo di Franciacorta was Sweden’s Johan Kristoffersson, driving his Volkswagen Dealer Team Sweden Polo RX. Kristoffersson blitzed the opposition to take the lead at the end of day one, finishing fifth overall at the end of day two. The eleventh and penultimate round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship will take place at the former F1 venue of Intercity Istanbul Park in Turkey from 11-12 October.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 235

2 Toomas Heikkinen, 175

3 Reinis Nitiss, 167

4 Timmy Hansen, 152
5 Timur Timerzyanov, 148

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 = Ford Olsbergs MSE, 313

1 = Volkswagen Marklund, 313

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 300

4 PSRX, 227

5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 85

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It was a mixed two days for Marklund Motorsport at the ninth round of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship in Germany over the weekend of 20-21 September. The Swedish team fielded three Polo RX Supercars, with regular drivers Anton Marklund and Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen being joined by German Ronny Wechselberger.

Former WRC ace Petter Solberg won the event – his fourth victory of the season – while second place was taken by Mattias Ekström. Heikkinen finished fifth in the Supercar final, moving him up the overall drivers’ leaderboard to sit under Solberg who currently leads the standings.

Marklund and Wechselberger were victims of the ever-changeable and unpredictable wet conditions at the Estering near Buxtehude, both knocked out in the preliminary heats. Wechselberger drove the car that Patrick Carpentier used to make the final at the seventh round of the series in Canada.

Overall, Marklund Motorsport remains in second place in the team standings, trailing the leaders by just ten points. The tenth of the twelve events in the 2014 calendar will take place in Italy at the new Franciacorta RX track in Brescia over 27-28 September.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 212

2 Toomas Heikkinen, 160

3 Reinis Nitiss, 158

4 Andreas Bakkerud, 136

5 Timur Timerzyanov, 128

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 294

2 Volkswagen Marklund, 284

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 250

4 PSRX, 204
5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 81

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It was a mixed result for the Polo RX-powered Marklund Motorsport team at the World Rallycross of France at the 1.1km-long Circuit de Lohéac in Brittany, over 6-7 September. Reporting difficulties in getting its powerful Polos set-up, both Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinnen and Anton Marklund made it through the semi-finals but failed to qualify for the Supercar final itself, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

A difficult first day saw engineers tweak the set-up of Heikkinen’s Polo and he finished fourth at the overnight point. Speaking on day two of the event, the Finn said: ‘There was a bit of traffic in the first two heats yesterday, but things were not as good as we expected with us, too. We were a lot slower yesterday. We changed the whole setup on my car – it was a big change so it was a risk, but it has worked.’

But it didn’t work enough. The truncated action saw Heikkinen slip down the overall drivers’ standings to third place, nine points behind Reinis Nitiss. Marklund meanwhile remains fifth overall.

There was no shortage of thrills and spills for the 70,000-strong crowd, though, as former WRC ace Petter Solberg took a sensational victory at the eighth round of the 2014 season at the home of French rallycross. Round nine of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship will take place at Estering in Germany on 20-21 September.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 185
2 Reinis Nitiss, 157

3 Toomas Heikkinen, 147

4 Andreas Bakkerud, 126

5 Anton Marklund, 124

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The Marklund Motorsport team’s trip overseas to the seventh round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship over the weekend of 9-10 August was rewarded with a second place for Anton Marklund and his Polo RX Supercar.

The young Swede has been consistently fast this season but has rarely translated the speed into results. That all changed last weekend. The 21 year-old Swede finished in the top five in all his heats, and won his semi-final to line-up against Petter Solberg on the front row of the grid of the final.

‘This has been a lot of fun,’ grinned Marklund. ‘I’ve managed to score points all day and driving down the long straight at speeds of around 190kmph is just amazing. Usually rallycross events are over two days so this has been a big challenge for my team to work over one day and they have done an amazing job.

‘It’s also really good for Volkswagen to have three out of four cars in the final and now we’re tied with Olsbergs MSE in the manufacturer standings too – it’s been a great weekend for the whole team.’

Marklund Motorsport had another success at WorldRX Canada, too. The 1.3km Trois-Rivières circuit Canada has a 59 per cent asphalt and 41 per cent gravel mix, which suited Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen well – the other regular driver for the Swedish team scoring a fifth place finish.

He now moves to second place in the drivers’ championship points table, while Marklund’s podium placing consolidates his fifth place.

The team fielded four Polo RXs at the event, with two for regular drivers Marklund and Heikinnen, and one each for Global Rallycross Championship driver Tanner Foust and former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Patrick Carpentier.

Carpentier made his RX debut in the event. The French Canadian proved a natural talent despite having only one short test ahead of the race. ‘I can’t explain how happy I am to have made it to the final. Before today my only aim was to reach the semis and to be in the final on my RX debut is more than I could ever have hoped for,’ he beamed.

Foust, who has appeared at previous rounds of the championship earlier in the season, suffered bad luck at Trois-Rivières. His Polo RX had driveshaft failure in practice and heat one, and the Marklund Motorsport team ran out of spares for his car.

The Rockstar Energy Drink-liveried Polo was the same car Foust drove in the Finnish round of the championship. It repeatedly suffered from driveshafts popping out when the US driver landed after heavy jumps, yet his team-mates cars were frustratingly trouble-free.

‘I’ve watched the other guys (Carpentier, Heikkinen and Marklund) hitting the jumps twice as hard as I was with no problems, so we really don’t know why it has been doing it,’ said a disappointed Foust. The Top Gear USA presenter also confirmed he may be appearing at another European round of the series.

Norway’s Petter Solberg took a sensational lights-to-flag victory at the World RX of Canada to become the first driver to win a round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship held outside of Europe.

Round eight of the series is the World RX of France which will be held in Lohéac on 6 and 7 September.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 155
2 Toomas Heikkinen, 135

3 Reinis Nitiss, 133

4 Andreas Bakkerud, 113

5 Anton Marklund, 111

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 = Ford Olsbergs MSE, 246
1 = Volkswagen Marklund, 246

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 185

4 PSRX, 147

5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 83

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