Barcelona World RX: Petter Solberg takes victory

Until the final, the weekend hadn't gone Solberg's way; he was fourth after day one, hit a wall in heat three and broke the suspension on his Citroen DS3.

Second fastest in heat two behind Timmy Hansen brought him up to sixth at the intermediate classification, from where he finished second to start on the second row of the grid for the final.

By contrast, Hansen continued his form from back-to-back victories in Norway and France and topped the intermediate stage, setting the pace in the heats with his Peugeot 208.

The Swede won semi-final one from pole position and ran side-by-side with semi-final two winner Johan Kristoffersson in the run up to Turn 1 in the final.

As the pair jostled for position, they both ran wide, and Solberg seized the opportunity to dive for the inside into Turn 2 and take the lead.

Behind, Robin Larsson was a victim of contact and retired at the start of the first loose section.

Solberg then made a mistake into the fourth corner and ran wide, but Hansen did the same.

Solberg immediately began to pull away from Hansen, while Kristoffersson took his joker at the end of the first lap, dropping to fourth.

Hansen's team mate Davey Jeanney ran third, the pair line astern until Jeanney took his joker on the third lap.

Kristoffersson jumped the Frenchman in the process, while Jeanney remained ahead of Tanner Foust in fifth.

Kristoffersson set about hunting down Hansen, and passed his compatriot when Hansen took the joker on the fifth lap, behind leader Solberg, who was clear in front.

Hansen pushed Kristoffersson hard for the final lap and made contact with the rear of the VW Polo in the final corner but there was no way by.

As Solberg and Kristoffersson celebrated with donuts after the finish, Foust tried to pass Jeanney in the final corner but remained fifth.

Mattias Ekstrom didn't make it through the semi-final stages, while fellow DTM driver Timo Scheider made his rallycross debut but retired from the first heat and didn't make the semis.

FINAL RESULT