Despite their best efforts in front of 35,000 fans, neither Marklund driver was able to make it through to the World RX final at the Höljes circuit in their Volkswagen Polo RX Supercars. Home hero Anton Marklund was eliminated after Sunday’s heats, the legacy of a troubled opening heat, with Finn Heikkinen going no further than the semi-final stage after he just missed out on the elusive third place he needed to qualify for the final. It meant there would be no repeat of Tanner Foust’s standout victory for the Marklund team last time out in Finland.

Tough start holds back Anton Marklund at home

It proved a weekend of frustration for Anton Marklund on home soil, which began when he was forced to retire from his first heat. ”I made a good start and pushed hard but probably too hard because I broke my rear suspension and had to unfortunately retire,” said the 21-year-old Swede. ”I set the seventh fastest time in the second heat, which was really good considering my bad starting position. But I was in 22nd position and left with a lot of work to do on Sunday in order to reach a semi-final spot. Heat three was really good to me and I set the fourth fastest time. But I needed a really good time in heat four. I finished second but, unfortunately, my points were not enough for the semi-finals. Of course I’m disappointed but my pace was really good today and I can take that as a positive thing for the next race in Belgium.”

Heikkinen just misses out on final showdown

There was frustration too for Toomas ’Topi’ Heikkinen who just missed out on a final spot to Petter Solberg following a close battle in the second semi-final. Nevertheless, he remains in fourth place in the drivers’ standings, one position ahead of team-mate Anton Marklund. ”The first day was good but not perfect,” said Heikkinen, 23. ”The car wasn’t quite perfect in either race on Saturday but I still managed to do the fourth fastest time in both races, which put me in fourth after the first day. We tried to maximise our potential on day two and I was sixth after the heats and into the second semi. I got a pretty good start from the inside of the second row and was third into the first corner. My car was pretty good but Timmy Hansen’s retirement on his ’joker’ lap affected our strategy. In the end it was bad for us as when I did my ’joker’ lap on second to last lap I was behind Sebastian Eriksson, Andreas Bakkerud and Solberg and finished fourth. I’m disappointed, as we all know in the team that we have a good and proven winning car. We have more work to do for the next race and hopefully we’ll get some luck as well.”

Testing the focus for Marklund team

While acknowledging it was a frustrating weekend for Marklund Motorsport supported by Volkswagen, team principal Jan Marklund said the focus was now on a test ahead of the next round in Belgium. ”It was a frustrating weekend as we were not able to keep up our winning momentum from Finland and that makes us all even more frustrated as we all know that our car is good and capable of winning. We will now schedule more testing in order to get the small details in place and keep our drivers’ championship bids alive. The Belgium race is coming up soon and hopefully it will suit us better.”
Provisional World RX drivers’ standings (after round five of 12): 1 Reinis Nitiss (112 points); 2 Petter Solberg (103); 3 Andreas Bakkerud (99); 4 Toomas Heikkinen (88); 5 Anton Marklund (64); 6 Timur Timerzyanov (64); etc.

Provisional World RX teams’ standings (after round five of 12): 1 Ford OlsbergsMSE (211 points); 2 Marklund Motorsport supported by Volkswagen (152); 3 Team Peugeot-Hansen (123); etc.
Next World RX event: World RX of Belgium, Circuit Jules Tacheny, July 11/13.