4th: Andreas Bakkerud
World RX Titles: 0
World RX Wins: 7
World RX Podiums: 30
Best Championship Finish: 2nd (2019)
After proving his mettle in the FIA European Rallycross Championship – clinching back-to-back Super1600 (now Euro RX3) crowns in 2011 and 2012 – Andreas Bakkerud stepped up to the newly-formed World Championship in 2014, placing second in the inaugural event at Montalegre and then winning round two at Lydden Hill to seize the top spot in the standings.
Further podiums at Kouvola and Höljes and another victory at Istanbul Park ultimately secured the Norwegian fifth spot in the Drivers’ classification that year, which he improved upon to fourth in 2015, adding a third career triumph to his tally at Franciacorta.
A move to Hoonigan Racing Division in a Ford Focus RS in 2016 yielded three more wins – including a hugely popular success on home soil in Hell – en route to third position overall. There were no victories in 2017, but four rostrum appearances kept Bakkerud firmly at the forefront of the action, before he switched to Mattias Ekström’s EKS Audi Sport outfit for 2018, finishing closely behind the team boss in the championship in third again.
The Bergen native then fought Timmy Hansen tooth-and-nail for championship glory in 2019 in an RX Cartel Audi S1, with the pair’s fierce duel going right the way down to the wire. After colliding in a dramatic finale in Cape Town, they ended up in a dead heat but Hansen got the verdict on countback.
A difficult campaign with GCK RX Cartel in 2020 left Bakkerud just seventh in the points table, but his 30 podium finishes from 79 starts to-date represent an impressive 38 per cent strike rate – and while he has been absent from the grid for the past two seasons, one suspects his World RX love affair isn’t over yet...
Finland
Italy
Hungary