Harth Earns iRX World Championship in Thriller as Ollikainen Wins in Sonoma
December 7th, 2020 by Chris Leone
Top rookie Jonne Ollikainen won the battle, but series veteran Yohann Harth won the war, as the iRacing Rallycross World Championship presented by Yokohama concluded on Saturday from Sonoma Raceway. Ollikainen and SET Esports teammate Tommi Hallman earned their third 1-2 finish of the season in the main event, but Harth’s fourth place result was enough to claim the championship and $10,000 winner’s prize away from Team Yokohama teammate Jon Robertson in the final round.
Entering the decisive event, Robertson held a 10-point advantage over Harth in the standings, with Hallman and Subaru Motorsports USA’s Mitchell deJong also mathematically eligible for the title in the case of a disastrous outing for both drivers. By qualifying first and second, Harth and Robertson earned enough points to mitigate all other scenarios, setting up a heads-up battle for the title. But while Harth won his heat to earn the first starting spot in the final, Robertson got caught up in contact with other cars to fall to fifth, and wound up in the same spot in the last chance qualifier, ending his season.
With the gap down to five, and the tiebreaker on race wins in his back pocket, all Harth needed to do was finish sixth or better at a track where he had already won twice in his career, including earlier this season. Ollikainen and Hallman would assert themselves up front quickly as Harth focused on driving a clean race with no mistakes. In spite of losing the final podium spot late in the race after a nail-biting battle with Hansen Williams Esports’ Josh Fox, Harth would cross the line fourth, earning the title by just three points.
iRacing Rallycross World Championship presented by Yokohama results from Sonoma Raceway were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Name |
Manufacturer |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts |
1 | 2 | 44 | Jonne Ollikainen | Subaru | 10 | 10 | 39.142 | 24 | |
2 | 3 | 87 | Tommi Hallman | Subaru | 10 | -0.318 | 0 | 39.076 | 24 |
3 | 10 | 12 | Josh Fox | Subaru | 10 | -5.476 | 0 | 39.023 | 15 |
4 | 1 | 90 | Yohann Harth | Subaru | 10 | -6.574 | 0 | 39.520 | 22 |
5 | 9 | 97 | Adria Perez | Volkswagen | 10 | -7.048 | 0 | 39.454 | 11 |
6 | 4 | 24 | Mitchell deJong | Subaru | 10 | -7.158 | 0 | 39.028 | 13 |
7 | 5 | 22 | Rasmus Tuominen | Subaru | 10 | -7.217 | 0 | 39.659 | 13 |
8 | 7 | 83 | Bobby Zalenski | Subaru | 10 | -14.757 | 0 | 39.452 | 10 |
9 | 8 | 21 | Jake Robertson | Subaru | 10 | -18.956 | 0 | 39.864 | 12 |
10 | 6 | 14 | Ilari Lamminsivu | Subaru | 10 | -20.313 | 0 | 40.080 | 8 |
iRacing Rallycross World Championship presented by Yokohama final driver points are as follows:
- Yohann Harth, 175
- Jake Robertson, 172
- Tommi Hallman, 161
- Mitchell deJong, 150
- Jonne Ollikainen, 149
- Josh Fox, 97
- Bobby Zalenski, 84
- Ilari Lamminsivu, 81
- Jake Robertson, 70
- Garrett Manes, 70
- Rasmus Tuominen, 65
- Adria Perez, 64
- Otto Taskinen, 61
- Connor Parise, 55
- Aleksi Heikkinen, 51
- Killian Dall’olmo, 48
- Tommi Makinen, 47
- Daniel Mitrani Fenollosa, 45
- Beau Albert, 43
- Vicente Salas, 43
- Marcos Matamoros, 39
- Sindre Silva, 38
- Garrett Lowe, 37
- Henrik Krogstad, 34
- Jonathan Pailler, 31
- Matt Bussa, 23
- Cabot Bigham, 17
- Luke Crouse, 14
- Sami-Matti Trogen, 13
- Alex Bergeron, 7
- Bobby Sandt Jr., 5
iRacing Rallycross World Championship presented by Yokohama final team points are as follows:
- Team Yokohama, 347
- SET Esports, 310
- Subaru Motorsports USA, 234
- Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 134
- Hansen Williams Esports, 131
- Ed Carpenter Racing, 129
- CR22 Motorsports, 128
- SET Esports Team GRX, 113
- Williams Esports, 97
- Burton Kligerman Esports, 90
- Andretti Autosport, 86
- Nitro Circus, 84
- Loenbro Motorsports, 58
- DirtFish Jim Beaver eSports, 53
The iRacing Rallycross All-Star Invitational and World Championship presented by Yokohama are supported by Yokohama, DirtFish, and Marwin Sports. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.