Solberg on top at Hockenheim RX

Petter Solberg topped the Saturday of the second round of the World Rallycross Championship at Hockenheim, despite spinning in the first heat after contact.

The reigning champion was fastest in the third and fourth heats to top the intermediate classification, earning him the maximum 16 points and giving him pole position for Sunday's first semi-final.

Solberg's teammate, British driver Liam Doran, had topped day one after two heats in his Citroen DS3 and ran in the pack through heats three and four to be third at the intermediate stage behind Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Reinis Nitiss, who largely stayed out of trouble through all four of his races.

"Today has been perfect," said Solberg. "I don't have the full starting system working, so I am starting myself the old fashioned way; the engine people are not here.

"If it's wet tomorrow then it will be difficult, but we will see. We need to work a little bit on the setup for the wet. I'm leading the championship now, I'm happy with that."

Swede Johan Kristoffersson, winner of the opening round in Portugal, was fourth.

Fastest in heat one, the VW Team Sweden driver suffered a double puncture in heat two and had contact with Davy Jeanney at the joker-lap exit in the final heat, with both spinning.

Jeanney qualifies one spot behind Kristoffersson in fifth.

Tanner Foust wound up sixth with Andreas Bakkerud in seventh, the Norwegian fighting back after being spun in heat three heading onto the loose section of the circuit when PG Andersson and Timur Timerzyanov came together.

Andersson qualified for the semi-finals in 11th, but Timerzyanov is out because he list 15th after the four heats. The Russian led his heat-four race until the last lap, where he clipped a tyre wall and rolled his Ford Fiesta.

The double European champion was straight back on the starter button as the car landed on its wheels and he recovered to finish the race, albeit without a time good enough to put him into the top 12.

Tord Linnerud was another to survive a big moment in heat four, the former rally man being squeezed off the start line by the Audi's of Anton Marklund and Robin Larsson, Linnerud's VW Polo heading into the tyre wall backwards.

Linnerud selected first gear while he was heading into the wall and lost little time in regaining fourth position, despite loosing the tailgate and rear spoiler.

Linnderud, along with Toomas Heikkinen and Timmy Hansen, made the semi-finals, but Edward Sandstrom and Manfred Stohl missed the cut.

Munnich Motorsport recruit Alx Danielsson had a better event than his rallycross debut in Portugal and scored one point by finishing 16th at the intermediate classification.

Originally on Autosport.com