Photo: Johnny Loix
This year’s third World Championship race in Norway offered many close fights and and it was a tough battle on who would get to the finals of the 35 Supercar drivers.
In the first heat it was Ramona and latvian driver Nitiss which was the fastest off the start grid. Nitiss took the lead before Ramona on 2:nd place. Ramonas left front wheel where against Nitiss right rear wheel into the first corner, which forced Ramona to go up high on the curves –which caused a broken suspension and Ramona had to retire her first heat.
In next heat, Ramona started from the 4th position, made a great start and was alongside Bakkerud into the first corner. But Bakkerud had the best line and Ramona decided quickly to take the joker lap. In the fight with the other cars, Ramona got a puncture on the right front wheel, which caused a big time loss.
“It was a really bad start. Maybe I should have backed of a bit in the battles, but at the same time; this is rallycross. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose, and if you’re not getting into the fights, you fall behind immediately” Ramona says.
Time for Sunday’s race. In the morning warm-up, Ramona complained about bad turbo boost. “The problem was particularly clear in the hills on the course, where engine lost a lot of power.” In Heat 3 Ramona were at 2nd after Tommy Rustad, but Ramona still had to struggle keeping up the boost – and the team realized that something was seriously wrong. During the service between heat 3 and 4 the mechanics discovered a leak in the wastegate, and the turbo was replaced.
Now Ramona were really motivated to make a good heat with a car that’s fit for fight. Ramona stood in pole, got a good start and had a fight with Jenssen into the first corner. Ramona took the lead before Jenssen, Koutny, Walfridsson and Kristoffersen. But at the fight, Ramonas’ left wheel got a punch, which caused a crooked steering arm. But Ramona kept the lead until the left drive shaft suddenly ripped out. “The crooked steering arm resulted in the wheel turned more than the drive shaft could manage, and it was simply pulled out”. Suddenty also the right drive shaft broke, and also the front brake discs broke. “Going with a rear wheel drive Supercar without front brakes were quite … interesting,” Ramona laughs, who, however, took the car to the finish line, but lost of course lots of time. Ramona slipped down to 30:th position.
“It really felt like that all the troubles came on the same weekend, and I never got a clean heat. Now we look forward to World Championships in Höljes in three weeks” Ramona says.
Ford driver Reinis Nitiss won Supercar before Petter Solberg and Ken Block. For detailed results, read more on rallycrossrx.com