Bossard travelled to World RX of Türkiye fresh
from a triumphant campaign in the French Rallycross Championship’s headlining
Supercar division in 2024 – astonishingly, following a ten-year absence from the
grid.
Be that as it may, the Frenchman knew he would
be stepping up a level onto the world championship stage, and the PGRX team endured
a difficult start to the weekend when its two drivers made contact in the opening
heat – albeit not before Bossard had engaged in a lively crowd-pleasing duel
with Patrick O’Donovan.
The Quimper native hit back immediately in heat
two, withstanding an early threat from team-mate Juha Rytkönen to ease to a
comfortable win in just his second World RX race. More notably still, in terms
of outright speed, only multiple world champion Johan Kristoffersson lapped faster.
Bossard narrowly missed out on advancing to Saturday’s
final following a close semi-final battle with Rytkönen and 2019 title-winner
Timmy Hansen, but he looked set to make the cut 24 hours later, when – after a
troubled run through the heats – he exploited a wet track surface and early
joker strategy to pressurise O’Donovan and Niclas Grönholm into errors and leapfrog
the pair for third.
Having made slight contact with the Finn along
the way, however, the Hyundai driver elected to cede the position once more and
in so doing, accidentally stalled his engine, dashing his hopes of a dream
conclusion to his debut weekend in rallycross’ top-flight. Nonetheless, after
demonstrating what he is capable of up against the discipline’s elite, the 34-year-old
left Türkiye with plenty of cause for encouragement.
“Even if I would obviously have preferred to
come away with better results, I still look back at the weekend in a very
positive light,” Bossard reflected. “As the first time I had ever competed in
the world championship, it enabled me to gauge myself against the best in the
business and to be able to take the fight to them as the rookie in the field was
a real confidence boost.
“The calibre in World RX is extremely high, and
the intensity is honestly on another level. Everybody is quick, and everybody
is capable of challenging for victory. The racing is hard but fair. Yes, there’s
contact, but it’s usually within the boundaries of acceptability and I had a great
battle with [Patrick] O’Donovan – we passed and re-passed each other on several
occasions, but it was always clean. I really enjoyed that.
“I still have a lot to learn compared to
drivers who have been doing this for many years, and I haven’t achieved my full
potential yet, but I think I showed I have the ability to compete in World RX. We
were unquestionably fast enough, and I believe with the benefit of a bit more
experience, I could do well in the championship. It’s definitely whetted my
appetite to find out what might be possible...”
Japan
Poland
Turkey