26 Sep WRX finale set to thrill

South African race fans are set for a sensational showdown when the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy comes to a dramatic head at the Killarney International Raceway season finale 9-10 November. Swede Timmy Hansen won the penultimate World RX round in Latvia to draw just one point clear of Norwegian Andreas Bakkerud in the chase for the title, with younger Hansen brother Kevin also lurking large seven points further back in third to set up a spectacular shootout. The closest FIA World Rallycross Championship season yet has seen six different winners in nine rounds in a dramatic title chase that began in Abu Dhabi in April.

“Now we go to Cape Town and I hope Andreas, Kevin and me all have a clean weekend to thrill the South African crowd,” Timmy Hansen explained after taking his Hansen MJP Peugeot 208 to its fourth victory of the season to steal that slender title lead on a sodden Bikernierki circuit. “The best man will stand on top of the world championship podium in the end. Whoever can stay strong and keep their head in the game, will come out the winner.”

“This is great news for the South African fans,” Monster RX Cartel Audi driver Bakkerud added. “Cape Town will get to see an incredible show. I don’t think the fight will be over until the chequered flag falls in the final there. This has been an incredible year! Now it is my job to chase, so Timmy will be thinking of me every night for the next eight weeks. Sleep well!”

Second in Latvia and fourth in the title chase with an outside chance of equalising Hansen’s leading points score, race winner, Finn Nicklas Gronholm (Hyundai) missed two races in the season but still sits ahead of Janis Baumanis (Ford Fiesta) in the title chase. Gronholm’s Russian teammate Timur Timerzyanov is sixth from Briton Liam Doran (Audi), Swede Anton Marklund (Renault Megane), Germany’s Timo Scheider (Seat) and Hungarian Kristan Szabo (Audi) in tenth.

Other World RX stars that local fans can look forward to racing at Killarney include Latvian driver Reinis Nitiss (Hyundai), Frenchman Cyril Raymond and Belgian Guillaume de Ridde’s Renault Clios, Norwegian Pal Try (Ford Fiesta), Sweden’s European RX champion Robin Larsson (Audi), Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit and Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska’s Renault Meganes, Brit Oliver Bennett (Mini) and Russian Matvey Furazhkin (Skoda).

So, FIA World Rallycross Cape Town 2019 is building up to be an incredible showstopper and is not to be missed!