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Ekstrom leads in Portugal after Q2

Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom leads the first round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy, the Bompiso Rallycross of Portugal at Montelagre at the end of day one. After Q1 and Q2, Volkswagen RX Sweden driver Johan Kristoffersson is second while Ekstrom's EKS team-mate Topi Heikkinen rounds out the top three.

Wet conditions greeted the drivers for the opening day of the season, as Kristofferson posted the fastest time in Q1 before Ekstrom went quickest in Q2.

"I think the trick in rallycross is to have good starts. Over the two years we've been doing this, we've struggled to have consistent starts. In the winter we tried to improve that. For sure in this weather it's difficult, but we had two good starts and that's the base for our performance," said Ekstrom. "The conditions are not really showing the true performance of the cars or the drivers yet."

Heikkinen is third overall, with Hoonigan Racing Division's Andreas Bakkerud fourth, making his debut in the team's new Ford Focus RS RX Supercar. The Norwegian was fourth fastest in both Q1 and Q2. America's Ken Block had two eventful races in the sister car and is 17th.

France's Sebastien Loeb is fifth on his first start for reigning World RX teams' champions, Team Peugeot-Hansen, getting to grips with the Peugeot 208 WRX in the challenging conditions. Reigning World RX drivers' champion Petter Solberg won his race in Q2 after sliding wide and losing time in Q1. The Citroen DS3 driver is seventh, one place behind Olsbergs MSE's Kevin Eriksson and ahead of 2015 RX Lites Cup Champion, Kevin Hansen.

Zdroj: fiaworldrallycross.com