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Argentina World RX: Petter Solberg seals title, Robin Larsson wins

Petter Solberg sealed a second consecutive World Rallycross Championship in the finale at Rosario in Argentina, as privateer driver Robin Larsson won

Solberg only had to qualify for the semi finals to add a second World RX crown to join his 2003 World Rally title, and with that accomplished he took third in a hard-fought final.

"I've been so nervous the whole weekend, it's just unbelievable," said Solberg.

"If people think it's easy, it isn't.

"It's an incredible feeling. It's been a fantastic year."

Peugeot-Hansen driver Timmy Hansen had pole position, but Larson - who had started alongside - found a way past at the first gravel section.

They swapped places twice more at the end of the lap after banging doors on the final asphalt straight, with Larsson back ahead as they crossed the line.

Hansen then lost second place to Mattias Ekstrom, who had already battled past Super1600 champion Janis Beaumanis after the Latvian shot up from the back row to third on lap one on his debut for Team Austria.

Larsson withstood heavy pressure from fellow Audi driver Ekstrom, while Hansen dropped out of contention when he ran wide on the slippery joker section as he took the extra route on lap two.

He later collided with younger brother Kevin, who had reached the final on his Supercar debut. Both siblings retired from the tail of the pack.

Ekstrom took his joker on the penultimate lap, but clashed with Solberg's Citroen as he rejoined. They continued still in second and third, with Solberg just ahead of Beaumanis.

Larsson saved his joker until the final tour and, warned by his spotters of the slippery conditions, took the corner very cautiously, returning to the main circuit in the lead to win his first rallycross event by just four tenths over Ekstrom.

"I had a tough fight with Timmy in the first corners and then Mattias was all over me in the last three laps," said Larsson.

"It was so hard to drive with him behind me, I closed every door I had!

"It was some kind of final. I will remember this my whole life for sure."

Intermediate Classification top qualifier Andreas Bakkerud was the most notable driver to miss the final.

He crashed out of the first semi-final while making a last second change of direction to enter the joker lap early on.

FINAL RESULTS - 6 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Robin Larsson Audi 4m16.346s
2 Mattias Ekstrom EKS Audi 0.453s
3 Petter Solberg SDRX Citroen 5.241s
4 Janis Baumanis Hansen Talent Development Peugeot 6.696s
5 Timmy Hansen Team Peugeot-Hansen Peugeot 3 Laps
6 Kevin Hansen Olsbergs MSE Ford 3 Laps
7 Andreas Bakkerud Olsbergs MSE Ford 6 Laps
8 Davy Jeanney Team Peugeot-Hansen Peugeot 6 Laps
9 Toomas Heikkinen Marklund Motorsport Volkswagen 6 Laps
10 Ole-Christian Veiby Volkswagen Team Sweden Volkswagen 6 Laps
11 Anton Marklund EKS Audi 6 Laps
12 Manfred Stohl World RX Team Austria Ford 6 Laps
13 Johan Kristoffersson Volkswagen Team Sweden Volkswagen 6 Laps
14 Reinis Nitiss Olsbergs MSE Ford 6 Laps
15 Liam Doran SDRX Citroen 6 Laps
16 Thomas Bryntesson Marklund Motorsport Volkswagen 6 Laps
17 Timur Timerzyanov Namus OMSE Ford 6 Laps
18 Rene Munnich All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport Audi 6 Laps
19 Gianni Morbidelli All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport Audi 6 Laps


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