Rallycross: Nico Müller jumps to WRC points
START IN LATVIA At the ninth round of the World Rallycross Championship in Latvia's capital Riga, Nico Müller in an Audi S1 made his only start of the season. Unfortunately, the pink Panther retired in the semi-final after a hard hit right after the start. A year ago, Nico Müller had managed a minor sensation in Latvia. In his second outing in [...]
A year ago, Nico Müller had managed a minor sensation in Latvia. In his second outing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX), the rookie qualified straight away for the final of the best six drivers in an Audi S1 EKS RX quattro from Mattias Ekström's team.
The Audi factory driver therefore warned against overly high expectations in the run-up to the ninth round of the 2018 World Championship at Riga.
Nico Müller: "Repeating that will be anything but easy in view of the cracks who are racing there. But I'll do my best, of course, and I'm really looking forward to the event."
Müller's car was the most eye-catching in the top-class field of around 600 hp RX Supercars. BWT, Europe's number one in water technology, has been one of his personal sponsors since 2018. As in GT3 races with an Audi R8 LMS, Müller therefore appeared in these typical BWT colors.
Unfortunate launch collision
Unfortunately, the only appearance this year of the pink panther at the same place did not go quite so well. With ranks 7, 19, 5 and 6 in the four heats, the only Swiss in the history of the World RX so far at least qualified for the semifinals.
Here, after the start of the six cars, there was an unfortunate collision between two teammates. Andreas Bakkerud's Audi was pressed against Müller's, resulting in the breakage of the front suspension on the Swiss supercar.
Nico Müller: "I had a good start, was already in fourth place and wanted to get in from the outside in the first corner. Unfortunately, Bakkerud was pushed by two Peugeots and pressed against me. It's a pity, everything would have been possible. Our performance was quite good until then. I would have liked to get into the final round and compete against people like Kristoffersson, Ekström and Loeb there. Still, we can be proud of what we achieved. I'd like to thank all the partners who made this fun possible."
In the English interview, Nico Müller describes the events in Riga:
.@nico_mueller after his World RX weekend at Riga #WorldRX #RigaRX #EKSRX #LeagueofPerformance pic.twitter.com/T3LmYeSy6v
- Audi Sport (@audisport) September 16, 2018
Volkswagen ahead of Audi
On the other hand, his teammate Mattias Ekström's path to the podium went almost without a hitch. As third in the intermediate standings, the Swede qualified for the semifinals and secured his ticket to the final in second place behind Johan Kristoffersson (VW Polo R Supercar).
In the decisive race of the top six, Ekström was also beaten only by his Swedish compatriot. The latter celebrated his sixth triumph in a row and is on the verge of winning the world championship title.
Here is the video of the final run in Riga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCFxZJv-eJk
Ten world championship points for Müller
In the drivers' standings, Ekström moved up to second place behind Kristoffersson (254 to 181 points) with his sixth podium of 2018.
With his placings in the heats and entry into the semifinals, Nico Müller scored at least ten points. With these, he goes down in the statistics of the World Rallycross Championship, as he did last year.
