Topi Heikkinen takes round one qualifying top spot in Essay

Topi Heikkinen was the first top qualifier in TitansRX history, finishing the three-round session top of the table ahead of fellow rallycross veteran Timmy Hansen.

The Finn won the first round of qualifying with a  heat win and the fastest overall time. He then finished second in Q2, but ended up seventh overall in Q3 after losing a lot of time after an entertaining on-track battle with the Hansen brothers.

Hansen was consistently in the top-5 throughout qualifying, but unlike Heikkinen didn’t take overall round honours at any stage.

Local wildcard Antoine Masse finished qualifying third overall, ahead of fellow Frenchman Jerome Grosset-Janin, Tamara Molinaro and practice pacesetter Hayden Paddon pacesetter Hayden Paddon. Rallying regular Paddon had only one test in TitansRX’s one-make Pantera RX6 supercar, but showed strong pace all morning, culminating in a Q3 heat and time win.

Although he won his heat and finished top of the times in Q2, Kevin Hansen finished a lowly seventh after he lost his water pipe. That, coupled with the intense heat caused his car to go into limp mode during Q3 – he was on-target for another heat and overall win until that point.

Ronny C’Rock and Andreas Steffen were eighth and ninth respectively, with Nelson Piquet Jr. rounding out the top-10. Piquet was second overall in Q1 and finished a strong sixth in Q2, but he crashed out of Q3 after missing his braking point in the dirt section.

Reini Sampl ended up 11th overall, with CsuCsu in 12th. The Hungarian had to contend with alternator issues in Q1 and Q2, but eventually finished a session in Q3, taking fourth overall.

TitansRX round 1 qualifying results