Round 3 - Greinbach ( Austria)

For the third round of the European Rallycross Championship, the drivers travelled to Greinbach in Austria.  There were two questions.  One question for each Division.  Would Kenneth Hansen continue his domination in Division 1 and would De Keersmaecker do the same in Division 2 ?  This were the questions on Saturday morning while it was hot with temparatures of 30 degrees Celsius. The answers came Sunday ! evening after a slippery race, started on a wet track !

No third victory in a row for the Belgian driver Michael De Keersmaecker.  The Honda Civic of the Belgian had some much horse power that he couldn't bring over that power on the track in the slippery conditions.  Due to that, De Keersmaecker had to start in fifth position.  He could move up one place and finished in fourth position.  After three rounds De Keersmaecker stays ahead in the Championship in Division 2.

Defendig European Rallycross Champion Jussi Pinomaki battled hard for the victory in the final.  It was a duel between Marcus Nilsson and Jussi Pinomaki.  In the final lap Pinomaki suffered technical problems ( A- arm / suspension ) and he had to stop.  Nilsson won his first race of the year.

Division 2

Pos  - Name  - Coun   -  Car  -  Points

1    Nilsson Marcus           S      Peugeot 206        20 2    Castoral Roman           CZ     Opel Astra OPC     17 3    Farsbo Jimmy             S      Peugeot 306 GTI    15 4    De Keersmaecker Michael  B      Honda Civic R      13 5    Sörensen Mads Leth       DK     Peugeot 206 GTI    12 6    Pinomaki Jussi           Fin    Renault Clio Sport 11 7    Kotek Tomas&nbs! p;             CZ     Renault Clio       10 8    Slastad Tommy            N      Opel Astra          9 9    Tyszkiewicz Piotr        PL     Astra OPC           8 10   Vyborny Otakar           CZ     Peugeot 306         7 11   Snoeijers Marcel         NL     Renault Clio RS     6 12   Freinberger Peter        A      Rena! ult Megane      5 13   Förster  Richard         A      VW Golf GTI         4 14   Papst Christoph          A      Renault Clio RS     3 15   Jensen Ronny             DK     Opel Astra          2 16   Riegler Christian        A      Citroen ZX 16V      1

Standings after Round 3

1. De Keersmaecker Michael  53 points2. Nilsson Marcus           46 points3. Pinomaki Jussi           40 points4. Castoral Roman           37 points5. Tyszkiewicz Piotr        25 points

Nothing special to mention in Divison 1 ... The Michael Schumacher of the Rallycross, Kenneth Hansen, keeps dominating Division 1.  Hansen won two heats out of three (first and third), the second heat was won by Lars Larsson.  Larsson was the only driver this weekend who was more or less able to follow the rhytm of Kenneth Hansen.  Koen Pauwels rolled his car in the heats and had to retire.   Same bad luck for Jernberg who rolled his Focus in the heats, but he could continue and made it to the A final.

Kenneth Hansen started in pole position in the A-final.   He did a perfect start and could take the lead into the first corner while Lars Larsson and Michael Jernberg were fighting hard for second place. It was Larsson who was the strongest of the two and could start chasing the leading Hansen. Once in control Kenneth had a steady ride to the finish line  where he finished in sixth position after he started in third position.  Michael Jernberg lost third place to the Norwegian driver Sverre Isachsen. Guttorm Lindefjell followed on fourth place and Morten Bermingrud fifth.  Michael Jernberg retired with broken gearbox.

"I felt confident all weekend. I quickly found a good set-up on the car and then it was up to me to do something good of it " said Kenneth Hansen after the race.

For Hansen it is his third victory in a row.  Naturally Hansen stays in the lead after three rounds of the European Rallycross Championship 2005.

Division 1Pos  Name                 Coun   Car                Points1    Hansen Kenneth       S      Citroën Xsara       20 2    Larsson Lars         S      Skoda Fabia         17 3    Isachsen Sverre      N      Ford Focus          15 4    Lindefjell Guttorm   N      Ford Focus          13 5    Bermingrud Morten  &! nbsp; N      Citroën Xsara       12 6    Jernberg Michael     S      Ford Focus          11 7    Eklund Per           S      Saab 9-3 T16        10 8    Salzgeber Willy      A      Ford Focus           9 9    Mrvka Jacub          CZ     Ford Focus WRC       8 10   Lindqvist K.G.       S      Volvo S40            7 11   Spital! er Franz       A      BMW M3               6 12   Kotan Peter          H      Ford Focus           5 13   Hindler Franz        A      VW Golf III 16V      4 14   Schuster Edy         A      Mitsubischi Evo 6    3 15   Fodor György         H      Toyota Carina T4     2

Standings after Round 3

1. Kenneth Hansen     60 points2. Isachsen Sverre    45 points3. Jernberg Michael   41 points4. Bermingrud Morten  40 points5. Larsson Lars       34 points

The next round of the European Rallycross Championship 2005 is next weekend in Sosnová (Czech Republic).