WRX South Africa: Block leads on final outing for Hoonigan Racing

Block was fifth fastest in Q1 having led an early qualifying race from lights to flag. He then passed team-mate Andreas Bakkerud for race victory in Q2 and set the second fastest time to move into top spot overnight.

Latvian Janis Baumanis followed up on recent strong form by making a brave move at the end of the long right-hand first corner to take the lead in his Q2 race and set a time that wouldn't be beaten.

The STARD driver is second at the end of the penultimate day of the rallycross season, ahead of Q1 winner Timmy Hansen, who led PSRX Volkswagen pairing Johan Kristoffersson and Petter Solberg overall in Q1 to set the fastest time.

Kristoffersson squeezed Hansen onto the inside in the run to the first corner for the final time of the day but ran deep, allowed Solberg up the inside and into the lead.

Exiting the long loose-surface hairpin, Turn 6, on lap one, Andreas Bakkerud passed Solberg for the lead on the inside, forcing his compatriot, wide which in turn allowed Block to improve on a position too.

Bakkerud led until the final lap, when he picked up a front-left puncture - like several drivers in the session, including Kristofferson, Solberg, Hansen and Sebastien Loeb.

Block undercut his fellow Focus RS RX driver in the joker lap section to win the race.

World champion Kristoffersson salvaged 10th fastest time in Q2 to remain fourth overall, ahead of Mattias Ekstrom and Bakkerud.

Solberg is ninth, with Kevin Hansen tenth in a 2016-spec Peugeot 208, one place ahead of double Andros Trophy champion Jean-Baptiste Dubourg in a 2015-spec version of the same car.

Loeb is currently outside the semi-final positions in 14th overall, but is equal on qualifying points with Dubourg, Oliver Eriksson and Timur Timerzyanov.

Former WTCC driver Rene Munnich broke a drivetrain component on his Seat Ibiza at the start of his Q1 race but fought back by winning the first race of Q2 and thanks to the demise of some of the leading contenders, was seventh fastest.

Hungarian driver Kornel Lukacs was side-lined for the duration of the day with a sickness bug.