Who will take the
silver? - A brief guide
by Martijn Kösters
As the final two rounds of this year's European Rallycross Championship in Finland and Germany are coming up, time for a quick brush up of all standings and title candidates.
Some of you might know that the European Rallycross Championship is divided into three categories. Supercars are four-wheel-driven vehicles fitted with a turbocharged two-liter engine. This might sound like a similar recipe as the WRC cars used throughout the 90s and 00s, but one must note that power output of ERC Supercars easily doubles that of WRC cars. Although exact numbers are kept secret, expect Supercars to put out around 600 horsepower, where WRC cars “only” have about 300 at best. The other two categories are Super 1600 (FWD, 1.6 liter atmospheric engines) and Touringcars (RWD, 2 liter atmospheric engines).
by Martijn Kösters
As the final two rounds of this year's European Rallycross Championship in Finland and Germany are coming up, time for a quick brush up of all standings and title candidates.
Some of you might know that the European Rallycross Championship is divided into three categories. Supercars are four-wheel-driven vehicles fitted with a turbocharged two-liter engine. This might sound like a similar recipe as the WRC cars used throughout the 90s and 00s, but one must note that power output of ERC Supercars easily doubles that of WRC cars. Although exact numbers are kept secret, expect Supercars to put out around 600 horsepower, where WRC cars “only” have about 300 at best. The other two categories are Super 1600 (FWD, 1.6 liter atmospheric engines) and Touringcars (RWD, 2 liter atmospheric engines).
The Supercar
category has been dominated throughout the season by one man: 'Czar'
Timur Timerzyanov. Out of the seven rounds in which he competed d he
managed to win five, of which three out of the last three rounds.
Timerzyanov currently leads the championship with 128 points, his
closest and only rival Tanner Foust is another 39 points down the
road. Foust is the only driver who managed to keep Timerzyanov from a
victory, yet as he is competing for the US-based Global Rallycross
Championship as well he had to skip the Austrian and Swedish round of
the championship. Mediocre results in France and the Netherlands put
him only just ahead of #3 in the championship Alexander Hvaal, who is
out of the title chase with 82 points.
The way in which the
ERC is set up means there is another factor to be taken into account:
drop-scores. Of both halves of the season each driver has to drop his
worst result. In the first halve of the season, Timerzyanov dropped
his non-entry at the season premier in the United Kingdom, where he
couldn't enter because of visa issues. Other title candidate Tanner
Foust skipped the Austrian round.
Standings at the moment come in two versions: one with and one without drop-scores. With drop-scores Timerzyanov would be on 108 points prior to the last two rounds, Foust would stay at 89 points (non-entry in Sweden). This decreases the gap in the championship from 39 to 19 points, leaving Foust with a chance for the title. On the other hand, a retirement would cost Timerzyanov absolutely nothing, since a 0-score would become his mandatory drop-score. To clinch the title this weekend, Timerzyanov would only need a single point (15th place), since Foust could only reach a total 129 points.
Prediction: Timur Timerzyanov
In Super 1600 matters are not so clear as in Supercars, since there are many more drivers still competing for the title, five to be precise. Leading the Championship is Andreas Bakkerud, with a 119 points he has a nice but not comfortable lead of 10 points over Ulrik Linnemann. Third is Krzystof Skorupski on 99 points, closely followed by Ildar Rakhmatullin on 94 and Bakkerud's team mate Jussi Leppihalme on 91 points.
Standings at the moment come in two versions: one with and one without drop-scores. With drop-scores Timerzyanov would be on 108 points prior to the last two rounds, Foust would stay at 89 points (non-entry in Sweden). This decreases the gap in the championship from 39 to 19 points, leaving Foust with a chance for the title. On the other hand, a retirement would cost Timerzyanov absolutely nothing, since a 0-score would become his mandatory drop-score. To clinch the title this weekend, Timerzyanov would only need a single point (15th place), since Foust could only reach a total 129 points.
Prediction: Timur Timerzyanov
In Super 1600 matters are not so clear as in Supercars, since there are many more drivers still competing for the title, five to be precise. Leading the Championship is Andreas Bakkerud, with a 119 points he has a nice but not comfortable lead of 10 points over Ulrik Linnemann. Third is Krzystof Skorupski on 99 points, closely followed by Ildar Rakhmatullin on 94 and Bakkerud's team mate Jussi Leppihalme on 91 points.
Andreas Bakkerud can
take the title his this weekend, if he wins and Linnemann would
finish no higher than third the scores would be 139 against 124. If
Linnemann would then win in Germany he would need to drop his 5
points scored in Belgium putting him on 139 points. Bakkerud would
then be champion on four wins to three for Linnemann.
Bakkerud's worst score was 7th place in Belgium, still an A-final finish. He's great at fighting his way up from a B-final position to the A-final. Linnemann can only try to win and hope Bakkerud doesn't do well.
Prediction: Andreas Bakkerud
Bakkerud's worst score was 7th place in Belgium, still an A-final finish. He's great at fighting his way up from a B-final position to the A-final. Linnemann can only try to win and hope Bakkerud doesn't do well.
Prediction: Andreas Bakkerud
In the Touringcar
class there are only two title candidates left: Anton Marklund leads
on 125 points with 2010 champion Derek Tohill second on 108 points.
Marklund has had an absolutely fantastic season with two wins and
five second places. Only time Marklund didn't make the podium was in
Norway, and that score doesn't count for the championship anymore
(dropped). Tohill is on two wins as well, yet finishing 4th,
9th and 3rd in the last three rounds has cost
him the lead he held after the first half of the season. Outsider for
this weekend could be Robin Larsson, he either did not score or
finished on the podium (4 times out of 6 starts).
In order for Marklund to take the title in Finland he would 'only' need to finish second. This would put him on 142 points, whereas Tohill can only reach 140 given he wins twice (drops 8 points from Belgium).
Prediction: Anton Marklund
In order for Marklund to take the title in Finland he would 'only' need to finish second. This would put him on 142 points, whereas Tohill can only reach 140 given he wins twice (drops 8 points from Belgium).
Prediction: Anton Marklund
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