Norway’s Petter Solberg is top qualifier at the end of day one at the World Rallycross of Great Britain, round four of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy.

The two-time World RX champion ended Mattias Ekstrom’s run of finishing top on day one by setting fastest time in Q1 and Q2 in his Citroen DS3, his Q2 time faster than Sweden’s Timmy Hansen, who had been quickest in Q2 until the last race. EKS’s Ekstrom is second with Norway’s Andreas Bakkerud third for the Hoonigan Racing Division team. “It was a fantastic day, we’ve made a lot of changes to the car and they have really paid off. I really like this circuit and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow now,” said Solberg.

Hansen is fourth overall with Topi Heikkinen fifth and Kevin Hansen, who is 18-years old today, in sixth. Volkswagen RX Sweden team mates Johan Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund are currently both inside semi-final qualifying positions for the second event in a row, with France’s Sebastien Loeb – who was slowed by a technical problem in Q1 – America’s Ken Block, Sweden’s Kevin Eriksson and Latvia’s Janis Baumanis also inside the semi-final qualifying places with Q3 and Q4 set to take place tomorrow morning.

Baumanis again impressed in his maiden World RX season, but was slowed by transmission problems in Q2. Britain’s Guy Wilks is 14th overall, but his compatriot, Liam Doran had a difficult first day with a two-litre engine fitted to the JRM Racing Mini and is 20th.

Denmark’s Ulrik Linnemann is top in the FIA European Rallycross Super1600 Championship category after Q3 for the front-wheel drive class. The Dane was fastest in Q1 and Q2, and finished third overall in Q3 after a last lap battle with Krisztian Szabo, who is second. Latvia’s Artis Baumanis is third overall.

In the RX Lites Cup, France’s Cyril Raymond is top despite rolling his car in Q2. He set fastest time in both Q1 and Q3. Finland’s Simon Wago Syversen is second with Norway’s Sondre Evjen third.