Andreas Bakkerud

 

Andreas Bakkerud is one of the biggest names in international motorsport. After finishing third in Division 1A of the FIA European Rallycross Championship with SET Promotion in 2010 – winning the season finale in the Czech Republic – he clinched back-to-back Super1600 (now Euro RX3) crowns in 2011 and 2012, triumphing seven times along the way.

A campaign at Supercar level in 2013 yielded a further two victories and fourth spot in the end-of-season standings – prompting a step-up to the World Championship stage in 2014. Wins in Britain and Turkey that year helped Olsbergs MSE to secure the Teams’ title and resulted in fifth position in the Drivers’ classification, which Bakkerud improved upon to place fourth in 2015.

In 2016, the Norwegian switched to Hoonigan Racing Division in a Ford Focus RS, prevailing on three occasions – including a popular success on home soil in Hell – en route to third position overall. Bakkerud matched that championship finish in 2018, tallying six podiums for EKS Audi Sport, before he fought Timmy Hansen tooth-and-nail for honours in 2019 in an RX Cartel Audi S1, with the pair’s duel going right the way down to the wire. After colliding in a dramatic finale in Cape Town, they ended up tied on points but Hansen got the verdict on countback.

A difficult season with GCK RX Cartel in 2020 left the Bergen native just seventh in the points table, but he returned to the fray in Euro RX in 2021 in an ESMotorsport-run Škoda Fabia, going on to lift his third European Championship trophy on his 30^th birthday at Spa-Francorchamps following a tense scrap with Fabien Pailler.

Bakkerud rejoined EKS for outings in Sweden and Norway in 2022. Denied victory by suspension failure at Höljes, he delighted his legion of fans by racing to a 12^th career triumph in Hell, prior to contesting the 2023 curtain-raiser at Nyirád as team-mate to Tamás Kárai.