WRX
27 May 2019
Credit: Tom Banks/World RX Media
Anton Marklund said there was big relief after he scored GCK’s first podium finish in the World Rallycross Championship in almost a year at Silverstone.
The French squad hasn’t had a top three finish since Jerome Grosset-Janin’s third-place finish in Sweden last year, while Marklund, taking part in his first full World RX campaign since 2016, hasn’t been on the rostrum since 2014.
“I would say it’s a big big relief for everybody in the team because since Abu Dhabi we’ve been showing great pace,” said Marklund. “At Spa we were running the top level time in the rain and we were really top three in the dry as well but we have always been struggling a bit with the starts and running in traffic.”
“It was really nice to get the starts working perfectly fine in the semi-final and final, take early jokers so we had clear air in front of us, and then we were trying to hunt these guys (Timmy Hansen, Andreas Bakkerud )down but obviously they were just a bit too far ahead.”
“I’m very satisfied with a P3, and very happy for the team because all of these guys have been working very hard.”
Marklund was fast all weekend at Silverstone – Credit: Tom Banks/World RX Media
Marklund thinks that the result, along with the improvement in start performance from the Prodrive-built Megane, will bode well for the remainder of the season, and that the long-wheelbase car will be a strong package at the next round in Hell, Norway.
“I think if we keep doing the starts like we did here in the semi-finals and finals we should be very quick,” he said. “I actually told Andreas (Bakkerud) that I’ve been dreaming about Norway for the last could of rounds because I feel the with hairpins that we had in Spa and that we had here (at Silverstone) it’s not an advantage to have a long wheelbase, but we come to Norway with the fast sweeping corners and hard braking zones, for sure the car will suit perfectly fine.”
“But it’s not all about the wheelbase, you also need a good setup, you need to have a good driver, so I’m coming there with a lot of self confidence and hopefully we can do a great event there as well.”
