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Estering World Rallycross: Petter Solberg defeats Mattias Ekstrom

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 (pictured below).

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.

FINAL RESULTS - 6 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Petter Solberg PS 110% AB Citroen 3m52.115s
2 Mattias Ekstrom EKS Audi 0.005s
3 Robin Larsson Bergs Fegen Audi 2.354s
4 Pontus Tidemand EKS Audi 3.669s
5 Toomas Heikkinen Marklund Motorsport Volkswagen 4.150s
6 Timmy Hansen Team Peugeot-Hansen Peugeot 5.423s
7 Timur Timerzyanov Team Peugeot-Hansen Peugeot 6 Laps
8 Johan Kristoffersson Kristoffersson Motorsport Volkswagen 6 Laps
9 Peter Hedstrom Skoda 6 Laps
10 Tommy Rustad HTB Racing Volvo 6 Laps
11 Andreas Bakkerud Olsbergs MSE AB Ford 6 Laps
12 Frode Holte Frode Holte Motorsport Hyundai 6 Laps
13 Per-Gunnar Andersson Skoda 6 Laps
14 Jerome Grosset-Janin Renault 6 Laps
15 Henning Solberg LD Motorsports Citroen 6 Laps
16 Reinis Nitiss Olsbergs MSE AB Ford 6 Laps
17 Anton Marklund Marklund Motorsport Volkswagen 6 Laps
18 Morten Bermingrud Citroen 6 Laps
19 Ronny C'Rock Marklund Motorsport Volkswagen 6 Laps
20 Derek Tohill LD Motorsports Citroen 6 Laps
21 Stein Egil Jenssen Ford 6 Laps
22 Lukas Walfridson Helmia Motorsport AB Renault 6 Laps
23 Davy Jeanney LD Motorsports Citroen 6 Laps
24 Koen Pauwels Ford 6 Laps
25 Tord Linnerud Helmia Motorsport AB Renault 6 Laps
26 Guttorm Lindefjell DWC Racing Volvo 6 Laps
27 Emil Ohman Citroen 6 Laps
28 Simone Romagna PS 110% AB Citroen 6 Laps
29 Mats Ohman Citroen 6 Laps
30 Per Eklund Per Eklund Motorsport Saab 6 Laps
31 Andy Scott Albatec Racing LTD Peugeot 6 Laps
32 Rene Munnich Audi 6 Laps
33 Jochen Coox OTRT Volkswagen 6 Laps
34 Jos Jansen Ford 6 Laps
35 Ramona Karlsson Albatec Racing LTD Peugeot 6 Laps
36 Bohdan Ludwiczak Ford 6 Laps
37 Bernd Schomaker Skoda 6 Laps
38 Jorg Jockel ACN Buxtehude Ford 6 Laps
39 Ole Habjorg Renault 6 Laps
40 Dennis Romer SEAT 6 Laps
41 Alexandre Theuil Citroen 6 Laps


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