Solberg pips Ekstrom in world rallycross thriller

Petter Solberg claimed his third straight World Rallycross Championship victory in an ultra-close finish with DTM star Mattias Ekstrom at the Estering in Germany.

It wasn't an easy weekend for 2003 World Rally champion Solberg, who suffered broken suspension on his Citroen DS3 in one of the heats but fought back to qualify fifth at the Intermediate Classification. Solberg then won his semi-final to line up on the front row of the grid for the final alongside European Championship leader Robin Larsson.

Swede Larsson made the best start to lead, while Solberg had a slower getaway but made it into second by Turn 1.

EKS RX pairing Ekstrom and Pontus Tidemand ran side by side on the back straight for third, with team owner Ekstrom seizing the advantage before being first to take a joker.

Larsson started to pull a slight gap on Solberg, but made a mistake at the asphalt hairpin on lap three, followed by another across the loose section, That allowed Solberg up the inside and into the lead, with Larsson then immediately taking his joker and rejoining behind Ekstrom.

Struggling slightly with an anti-lag issue, Solberg left his joker lap until the final opportunity. He returned to the main circuit from the final-corner detour to cross the finish line just five thousandths of a second ahead of Ekstrom.

Larsson finished third with Tidemand fourth and Toomas Heikkinen having a quiet race in fifth.

Timmy Hansen came home sixth after starting at the back and leaving his joker until the end.

The result increases Solberg's lead to 52 points over Heikkinen with three events left to run.

Originally on Autosport.com