Heikkinen takes World RX victory

Toomas Heikkinen became the third different winner of the 2015 World Rallycross Championship by claiming victory at the third round at Mettet in Belgium for the second year in succession.

The Finnish driver started from pole position having won the first semi-final, and he led out of a chaotic first corner, followed by second-row starter Petter Solberg.

Fellow front-row starter PG Andersson made a good start but was forced wide in Turn 1 and was muscled off the circuit, dropping to last place.

Mattias Ekstrom ran in fourth after the start but damaged the front of his Audi S1 and with the lifting bonnet restricting his view, he was forced to pull off on the second lap.

Heikkinen started to pull a fractional margin on Solberg, who opted to take his joker on the third lap but ran wide, losing time.

Heikkinen reacted by immediately taking his joker on the following lap, returning to the main circuit just in front of Solberg where he would remain to the finish.

Solberg tried pressuring the Finn into a mistake but ran wide a couple of times and dropped off the rear of Heikkinen's VW Polo.

"It was a really good race for us. We've done some really good work and the car really fits to me well right now, so I'm really happy," said Heikkinen.

"We will go to Lydden Hill next week and try to keep pushing as hard as we can."

OlsbergsMSE driver Reinis Nitiss finished third having not featured at the front of the field all weekend, while Andersson recovered to finish fourth.

Andreas Bakkerud made it two Ford Fiestas in the final and finished fifth.

Swede Johan Kristoffersson had been top at the intermediate classification but he suffered a puncture while leading the first semi-final, ruling him out of contention. Compatriot Timmy Hansen also picked up a puncture, missing out on a place in the final for the first time this season, along with Peugeot-Hansen team mate Davy Jeanney.

Anton Marklund had his best weekend of the year to date as Ekstrom's EKS team-mate and finished fourth in semi-final two.

FINAL RESULT

Originally on Autosport.com