Autosportfoto

Ekstrom leads overnight at Mettet RX

Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom leads the third round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy after the first day of action at Mettet in Belgium, while France's Jerome Grosset-Janin leads the FIA European Rallycross Championship competitors after Q1 and Q2.

EKS driver Ekstrom set the fastest time in Q2, backing up his second fastest time in Q1 to top the order at the close of day one for the third event in a row. France's Sebastien Loeb set his first ever fastest World RX qualifying time in Q1 and is second behind Ekstrom.

World RX Team Austria's Timur Timerzyanov was second quickest to Ekstrom in Q2 and is third overall with double World RX champion Petter Solberg fifth and 2015 Euro RX Super1600 champion Janis Baumanis sixth after Q2. Anton Marklund, Timmy Hansen, Reinis Nitiss, Kevin Eriksson and Davy Jeanney are all currently inside the qualifying positions for the semi finals. Local ace Francois Duval is inside the top ten in his OlsbergsMSE Fiesta, the Belgian is ninth overall with Q3 and Q4 set to take place tomorrow morning.

In the European Rallycross Championship, 2015 Mettet RX winner Grosset-Janin twice set the fastest time to be top of the Euro RX field, with Finland's Joni-Pekka Rajala second overall in his Eklund Motorsport Volkswagen Beetle and Norway's Tord Linnerud third overall. Reigning Euro RX champion Tommy Rustad was second fastest in Q1 and 10th fastest in Q2 and is fourth overall. Don't forget to check out the dedicated Euro RX YouTube highlights show on Tuesday.

In the Euro RX TouringCar category, Norway's David Nordgard leads the way after Q3 with former champion Daniel Lundh second and Belgian racer Danny De-Beucklaer third. In the RX Lites Cup, championship leader Thomas Bryntesson rolled his car in Q3. Sondre Evjen is top of the standings with Cyril Raymond second and Simon Wago Syversen third.

Zdroj: fiaworldrallycross.com