Track description: World RX of Great Britain, Lydden Hill (GB)

Date: May 27–28
Track: Lydden Hill Race Circuit, about 5 kilometers from Dover
Track length: 1.335 km (Joker lap: 1.420 km)
Surface: 60% tarmac, 40% gravel
Turns: 3 left, 4 right
Top speed: approx. 173 km/h
Lap record: Petter Solberg (N), 39.728s (2017)
Average speed: approx. 120.97 km/h
Winner 2017: Petter Solberg (N), 4m 09.602s

The review
To mark the 50th anniversary of rallycross at the Lydden Hill Race Circuit, Mattias Ekström and his team mates Toomas Heikkinen und Reinis Nitišs experienced a weekend with several obstacles. “I started well and held third place consistently in the qualifying sessions behind the strong Polos,” said Ekström. “In the semi-final, things weren’t quite right, which is why I had to start the finale from the third row.” After making a good start and a thrilling battle with Sébastien Loeb, a tire failure dropped the Swede down the order. At the end, he finished fifth. “We have to be honest. Winning here was never on the cards, but a podium finish was. But to achieve this, everything would have had to run perfectly.”

Toomas Heikkinen qualified for the semi-final for the fifth time this season, but missed the final after finishing sixth. “The semi-final is always the minimum goal. It’s disappointing that it wasn’t quite enough again this time, but the engine failure on Saturday had me playing catchup immediately,” explained the Finn. Nitišs fared much worse and as 16th overall was demoted to spectating after qualifying. “I’ll have to forget this weekend quickly and look forward.”