BARCELONA, SPAIN, APRIL 2, 2017
- First round of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship
- Last year was the first-ever year for Hoonigan Racing Division in the World RX Championship and was a complete development year for a brand-new racecar and chassis
- HRD spent a lot of time in the off-season testing and developing the Ford Focus RS RX rallycross car with the help of Ford Performance and M-Sport
- Both Block and Bakkerud showed fast pace from the start of the race — in Q1 Block won his race and was 2nd in the overall Qualifier, Bakkerud was in that same Q1 race with Block, finished third and was 5th overall in the Qualifier
- Block went into the Q2 session sitting second-fastest overall
- In Q2 both HRD drivers suffered bad luck because of a torrential downpour. Bakkerud was sent off track in turn 1 and into a wall, severely damaging his car and leaving him unable to finish the race, Block (along with the rest of the top qualifiers from Q1) had a slow overall qualifying time due to the slick conditions
- Sunday saw both drivers bounce back, Bakkerud won his Q3 race, both drivers qualified for the first Semi-Finals of the season
- Block finished his Semi-Final in 4th place — just narrowly missing the Final by one spot due to another competitor mechanically breaking in front of him and blocking him temporarily
- Bakkerud took 2nd in his Semi-Final and advanced to the Final, where he finished the event 3rd overall
- Bakkerud now sits 3rd overall in the Driver Championship with 22 points (Block sits 9th with 11 points)
- Hoonigan Racing Division now sits 3rd overall in the Team Championship with 33 points total (PSVW and EKS are tied with 40 points each for 1st and 2nd)
“I’m really happy with our results this weekend,” said Block. “I obviously had the pace to do a lot better and know I would have if not for that heavy rain that slowed us all down on Saturday in that Q2 race. But, despite that, I made it into the Semi-Finals, which is way ahead of where we were with my setup at the start of last season. And for Andreas to get knocked out of his Q2 race and have his car repaired overnight to then come out and make it onto the podium today? Awesome! I’m really proud of both Andreas and my Hoonigan Racing Division mechanics, those guys did great work to help put Andreas up on that podium today. Now it’s on to Round 2 in Portugal where hopefully I have my same pace and some slightly better weather!”
The next race for HRD is Round 2 of the World RX championship, in Montelegre, Portugal, April 22nd and 23rd.
