PoloDriver

He’s the sixth different winner in as many rounds, but no matter, Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen drove his Polo RX Supercar to victory at the Belgian round of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship at Mettet. The young Finn showed consistently strong driving at the 1km-long Circuit Jules Tacheny over the weekend of 12-13 July.

Heikinnen and his 600bhp four-wheel drive Polo were third after the opening two heats, while team-mate Anton Marklund held first. But, during the final race, Heikinnen pulled out all the stops, to claim the top spot on the podium, with Marklund in fifth.

‘Topi’ was more than pleased with performance: ‘I am absolutely over the moon. It is my first World Rallycross Championship win and I hope now that this is just the start of a fantastic second half of the season.’

Victory in Belgium had added benefits for Heikinnen as he climbed one position in the World Championship standings. The Finn now lies third with 117 points. Marklund is currently fifth with 85 points.

Team Peugeot Hansen driver Timmy Hansen finished second with Johan Kristofferson third in another Polo – one of a pair run by the Volkswagen Dealer Team / Kristofferson Motorsport outfit in Sweden. Kristofferson’s podium position was only his second World RX outing this year, and was also crowned the winner of the third round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX).

‘This is only the second race for us and I would have been happy just finishing in the semi-finals,’ said Kristofferson who was also awarded the Monster Energy Super Charge Award after his rapid start. ‘To get to the final was amazing and to be on the podium is just the best feeling! We had a really good start in the final race as we were in pole position and I think that’s what really helped us get here.’

Other Polos in action over the 31 per cent gravel and 69 per cent circuit included local driver Francois Duval who lives less than 30 miles from Mettet. Piloting another Polo RX run by Marklund Motorsport, Duval is the only Belgian driver to win a round of the World Rally Championship.

He has a strong track record in rallycross after winning the Belgian round of the European Rallycross Championship when it was held at Maasmechelen back in 2010. ‘The car seems to be performing well and I’ll be aiming for a good result,’ explained Duval before the event. In the end, the Belgian set a good pace in the Belgian VW Club / Gordon and Raemaekers Polo RX, but finished the event out of the top twelve rankings.

The Polo S1600 of Christian Petrakovits finished fifth in Heat 4 of the Super 1600 category, while the Polo of Patrick Mertens came home fifth in the first semi-final of the Touring Car classification.

The next round of the championship will take place at the Circuit Trois-Rivières in Canada between 7-8 August.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 125
2 Reinis Nitiss, 122

3 Toomas Heikkinen, 117
4 Andreas Bakkerud, 99

5 Anton Marklund, 85

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 221

2 Volkswagen Marklund, 202

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 154
4 PSRX, 117

5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 60

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Volkswagen Marklund Polo RX driver Toomas Heikkinen narrowly missed out on the final at the fifth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Höljes last weekend (5-6 July), the Volkswagen Rallycross of Sweden. The 23-year old took fourth place in the 600bhp Polo RX Supercar in the semi-final. The Finn needed a third place finish to qualify for the final at the 1.2km Swedish circuit.

Team-mate Anton Marklund was also unfortunate at Höljes Motorstadion, missing out on reaching the semi-final by a very narrow margin. One heat victory, two heat second-place finishes and a breakdown caused by suspension and differentials failure was sadly not enough to qualify for the final race as one of the fastest six drivers.

Overall, though, Heikkinen is still in fourth place on 88 points in the championship standings, thanks to his four top 10 heat times, proving that consistent finishes can be just as important as winning races. Marklund is fifth on 64 points. Double DTM Champion Mattias Ekstrom won the event overall in his first outing, taking victory in the newly-developed Audi S1 Supercar.

Local Swedish rallycross stars Ole Christian Veiby and Johan Kristoffersson of Kristoffersson Motorsport also added to the Polo count, by putting their Local Dealer Team Polo RX Supercars through their paces.

The next races in the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship will be held on 12 and 13 June at the Circuit Jules Tacheny, in Mettet, Belgium. There will be more Volkswagen interest, too: rallycross star Francois Duval will appear in another Marklund Motorsport-prepared Polo RX Supercar.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Reinis Nitiss, 112
2 Petter Solberg, 103
3 Andreas Bakkerud, 90
4 Toomas Heikkinen, 88
5 Anton Marklund, 64

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 211
2 Volkswagen Marklund, 152
3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 123
4 PSRX, 117
5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 45

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Following a good start to the season, US driver Tanner Foust took his Polo RX Supercar to his first 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship victory at the rain-soaked Finnish round of the series held at Kouvola over 28-29 June.

Battling through the World RX of Finland heats and semi-finals, the Top Gear USA presenter emerged victorious over Ford driver Andreas Bakkerud in the final, taking a lights-to-flag win. Fellow Ford driver Reinis Nitiss came in third.

Foust was pleased with both his performance as well as the Marklund Polo RX Supercar. ‘I’m absolutely delighted,’ beamed the two-time Formula Drift Champion who will also compete at World RX of Canada and Turkey later this year.

‘This is such a challenging track and with rain it is unbelievably difficult. When you’re not at the front it’s murder to see where you’re going as the car is caked in mud from the moment you’re off the line. I have to say the Polo is very, very good. The VW Marklund team have done an excellent job with the car.’

After two heat wins and a second place in the first semi-final behind team-mate Foust, Anton Marklund was due an overall podium place, but the young Swede was unable to keep up with the US driver in the treacherous conditions. He secured a fifth place in the final and more importantly, additional championship points in the process.

Team-mate Topi Heikkinen made it through to the semi-finals but a tussle with Britain’s Liam Doran and Ireland’s Derek Tohill saw all three drivers retire and miss out on a chance in the final.

The third 600bhp all-wheel drive Volkswagen Marklund Polo RX driven by Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen missed out on a place in the final due to a tussle with Liam Doran and Derek Tohill which resulted in all three drivers retiring.

But, with 74 points and in fourth place in the championship, Heikinnen remains the strongest Volkswagen Marklund driver. Anton Marklund is in fifth place with 61 points, while Foust is three places further down the field in eighth with 42 points.

Other Polo rallycross competitor results were a fourth place finish in semi-final one for Ernestas Staponkus in the Super 1600 category, while Touring Car classification driver Patrick Mertens scored a fifth place in the second semi-final.

The fifth race of the season will be the World RX Sweden, held at the Höljes Motorstadion over the weekend of 5-6 July.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Renis Nitiss, 96

2 Andreas Bakkerud, 82
3 Petter Solberg, 80

4 Toomas Heikinnen, 74

5 Anton Marklund, 61

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 178

2 Volkswagen Marklund, 135

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 96
4 PSRX, 92
5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 33

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It was a points-scoring weekend rather than a victorious one for Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen and Anton Marklund at the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship in Norway, over 14-15 June. The Marklund Motorsport drivers just missed out on places in the Supercar final in Hell, but did add valuable points to their championship standings.

Both young drivers and their 600bhp Polo RXs finished fourth in their respective semi-finals in Norway, where a third place would have guaranteed a position in the final stage of the competition.

Instead championship-boosting points were the order of the weekend. Heikinnen currently lies third in the Driver’s Championship with 60 points. Marklund lies sixth, with 39 points. Overall leader is Latvian Reinis Nittis with 72 points, who also took victory in Hell.

Other Polo results included a fourth place in one of the Super 1600 semi-finals for Ernestas Staponkus, while Patrick Mertens suffered a non-start in the line-up for the fourth heat of the Touring Car classification.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Renis Nitiss, 72

2 Petter Solberg, 69

3 Toomas Heikinnen, 60

4 Andreas Bakkerud, 56
5 Timur Timerzyanov, 41

6 Anton Marklund, 39

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 128

2 Marklund Motorsport supported by Volkswagen, 99

3 PSRX, 78

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The second round of the new 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship visited the home of the sport in the UK last weekend. Over 37 rallycross 600bhp Supercars visited Lydden Hill for the World RX of Great Britain round of the series.

Marklund Motorsport Polo RX drivers Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen and Tanner Foust finished fourth and fifth respectively in the exciting Supercar final, while Anton Marklund completed the semi-final in fourth place.

Heikkinen started the final from pole position after going fastest in the semi-final race. The Finn experienced power problems with his Polo, though, and had to settle for fourth place behind Ford Fiesta ST RX driver Andreas Bakkerud, who went on to emerge victorious overall at the 1.4-kilometre long British circuit.

Heikinnen started the final day of the meeting third overall and was fastest in his third heat. In his fourth heat he suffered a puncture on the penultimate lap, which out him in 26th place. But, despite the setbacks, the 23 year-old finished third after the heats and won his semi-final by waiting until the final lap to take his ‘joker’ lap.

‘I had a good start in my semi and my pace was good all the way. Petter Solberg and Andreas Bakkerud made their joker lap in the beginning but I waited until my last lap and kept ahead of them. My start in the final wasn’t perfect and I got stuck behind Robin Larsson’s Audi A1.

‘Then my engine started to lose power for some reason and I finished fourth. It’s obviously not the result I wanted after being fastest in the semi-final. But we are in a good position in the championship and ready for the next round,’ said Heikkinen.

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