Round 6 - Höljes (Sweden)

Kenneth Hansen dominated the heats during the day and started in pole position in the A-final.  After two victories in the qualifying Kenneth started on pole position in the A-final. Pole position, that’s an advantage compared with the other competitors, but in Sweden there wasn’t much grip and so all the pole sitters had a very bad start in Sweden, also Kenneth Hansen… or was it a slighty reaction by Kenneth Hansen ? &n! bsp; Michael Jernberg was took the best start, with Kenneth Hansen in second position. 

Kenneth Hansen was quicker, and maybe he had the  victory in sight with his Citroen, but  unfortunately it all ended with a crash in the fight for the lead.  “  I felt I was quicker when I was behind Jernberg and I was not going to give up that easily  “  Kenneth says. “ A victory is always a victory and even sweeter on home ground. So a pushed hard over the crest and had striking angle on Micke, but at the same time he must have slowed down or braked suddenly because I hit the rear of the Ford hard. The front of my car was a total mess and some turbo hoses were damaged so that I lost the power in my engine. “

Kenneth Hansen was forced to retire in the final and got sixth place. Michael Jernberg could continue without problems after Kenneth was gone to take the victory. Morten Bermingrud, in the other Citroen, was closing in on Jernberg but never caught him and he finished second. Per Eklund, who had lived a silent life in the qualification rounds when he was not quite up to the fastest lap times, now came through to take a fine third place.

Guttorm Lindefjell won the B-final and climbed up a couple of more steps in the A-final and was fourth overall. Lasse Larsson came in on fifth place with technical problems in his Skoda.

Hansen is still leading the standings in the European Championship (88 points), but now only six points ahead of Michael Jernberg (82 p.) Larsson advanced to third place as the winner of the Norwegian round, Sverre Isachsen, failed already in the C-final.

Now the ERC will make a short summer brake before it all starts in August again with the Belgian round.

Results Division 1 after round 6.

1. Michael Jernberg        Ford Focus T16 4x4        20 points2. Morten Bermingrud       Citroën Xsara T16 4x4     17 points3. Per Eklund              Saab 9-3 ASS T16 4x4      15 points4. Guttorm Lindefjell      Ford Focus T16 4x4        13 points5. Lars Larsson            Škoda Fabia T16 4x4       12 points6. Kenneth Hansen          Citroën Xsara T16 4x4     11 points

Standings Division 1 after round 6.

1 Kenneth Hansen           Citroën Xsara T16 4x4     88 points2 Michael Jernberg         Ford Focus T16 4x4        82 points3 Lars Larsson             Škoda Fabia T16 4x4       76 points4 Sverre Isachsen          Ford Focus T16 4x4        68 points5 Morten Bermingrud        Citroën Xsara T16 4x4     66 points6 Per Eklund               Saab 9-3 ASS T16 4x4      56 points7 Guttorm Lindefjell       Ford Focus T16 4x4        55 points! 8 Pavel Koutný             Ford Focus T16 4x4        36 points9 Jean-Luc Pailler         Peugeot 206 T16 4x4       31 points10 Karl-Gunnar Lindkvist   Volvo S40 T16 4x4         27 points

Division 2 was dominated by the Swedish drivers, with a total of 5 Swedish pilots in the B-final.  The B-final was a battle between Pinomaki and De Keersmaecker, the current leader in the European Rallycross Championship.  De Keersmaecker crashed twice in the heats and the Belgian was given the black and white flag for pushing.  De Keersmaecker didn’t agreed that decision an appealed it … with success. 

Niklas Hagström won the A-final in Division 2 before Marcus Nilsson.  With this result, Marcus Nilsson became the new leader in the European Rallycross Championship, but thanks to the result of the appeal of De Keersmaecker, it’s the Belgian driver who stays in the lead.

Results Division 2 after round 6.

1. Niklas Hagström         Honda Civic Type-R        20 points2. Marcus Nilsson          Peugeot 206 RC            17 points3. Jimmy Farsbo            Honda Civic Type-R        15 points4. Mattias Thörjesson      Opel Astra OPC            13 points5. Magnus Ericsson         Honda Civic Type-R        12 points6. Roman Častoral          Opel Astra OPC            11 points

Standings Division 2 after round 6

1 Michaël De Keersmaecker  Honda Civic Type-R        79 points2 Marcus Nilsson           Peugeot 206 RC            78 points3 Jimmy Farsbo             Honda Civic Type-R        77 points4 Jussi Pinomäki           Renault Clio RSR          70 points5 Roman Častoral           Opel Astra OPC            67 points6 Piotr Tyszkiewicz        Opel Astra OPC            43 points7 Tomáš Kotek       &n! bsp;      Renault Clio Sport        37 points8 Tommy Slåstad            Opel Astra OPC            32 points9 Mattias Thörjesson       Opel Astra OPC            26 points10 Mads Leth Sørensen      Peugeot 206 RC            24 points