Bakkerud leads Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel into the final at 2nd round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship 23.08.2020: The 2nd round of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship at world-famous rallycross track in Holjes, Sweden, saw Bakkerud put down an impressive performance as he led the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel into the final, only missing out on a podium spot du

The 2nd round of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship at world-famous rallycross track in Holjes, Sweden, saw Bakkerud put down an impressive performance as he led the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel into the final, only missing out on a podium spot due to a technical issue following contact.





ANDREAS BAKKERUD
FINAL P6
Q1 P4 / Q2 P6 / Q3 P2 / SEMI-FINAL P3




Bakkerud held his own as he took on Kristofferson and Ekstrom to finish his first qualifier in 3rd with the 4th fastest time overall.


While dropping into P5 following the second qualifier, Bakkerud battled his way back and took an impressive win against Timmy Hansen, Timur Timerzyanov and Krisztian Szabo to push the GCK Megane R.S. RX back into p3 overall ahead of the semi-final.


The semi-final showed some of the most epic race performance of the season yet as Bakkerud showed incredible driving skills defending P3 despite damage to the car following contact with Timmy Hansen.




Despite the team working hard to turn the Megane around in time for the final, the car’s broken driveshaft made a comeback in lap 2 of the final and had Bakkerud miss out on the hard-fought-for podium spot in Sweden.
 


“I’m really proud of our performance today. We made massive steps and I can see where we’ll be able to go with the GCK Megane R.S. RX. I now hold the record for the only person having raced their way to the final in 5 different cars, so that’s not too bad either :). I know we’re just a step or two away from the podium, so bring on Finland - I’m ready.”, Bakkerud added.
     





LIAM DORAN
P17
Q1 P17 / Q2 P17 / Q3 P17


While Doran showed some impressive starts and his well-known style of sending it through the first corners into the lead saw him win battles throughout all 3 qualifiers, his GCK Megane R.S. RX struggled with technical issues as both propshafts and the drive shaft broke leaving him without gears or control for the latter part of the races and had him retire from the weekend following Q3.
 



 
STÉPHANE ORRÉ
Team manager of the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel



“We’ve seen some good improvements across the weekend despite some challenges for the Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel. We missed some preparation time ahead of Sweden RX, so the guys had a tough job on their hands to try to understand the cars as they were racing, and the team had to make adjustments on the go. Andreas put down an impressive fight and performance, especially considering the little time he’s had in the Megane so far.



Liam also showed great pace and definitely knows how to handle the Megane but continuing technical issues since yesterday meant we couldn’t actually see him battle, so we now have to put in the work ahead of Finland to see both drivers at the top. Andreas showed today that the car’s performance is there and we certainly have the pace, so now it’s time to bring it all together for round 3 and 4 next week”, Stéphane commented.





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