Bakkerud: We’ve proved KMS can be beaten!
Andreas Bakkerud has described his milestone victory in round two of the 2026 FIA European Rallycross Championship at Nyirád last weekend (30-31 May) as ‘important for the whole paddock to see’ – in showing that ‘there is a chance to beat the VWs’.
Bakkerud’s hugely popular Hungarian triumph came some 2,492 days after he had last stood atop the podium at the highest level of international rallycross – but its significance ran even deeper.
Over the course of his illustrious career, the Norwegian has enjoyed success with some of the biggest brands and manufacturers in the sport. His present set-up, however, is rather different, with his small Bergen Motorsport Evolution outfit quite literally composed of his family and friends – plus a little help from Jussi Pinomäki’s SET Promotion.
Having launched the project in late 2024 – finishing inside the top three in the domestic series’ headlining Supercar category last year – it has been a labour of love to get to this stage, with the current campaign marking Bakkerud’s first full-time assault on Euro RX since clinching his third career crown in the championship five years ago.
“When I got out of the car after the Final, I saw my uncle as well as the CEO of Bergen Motorsport Evolution and so many other grown adults crying, which set me off, too – I cried on TV!” the 34-year-old reflected. “We have taken the long route and it’s been such a road to get here, but we’ve taken big steps along the way.
“At the first round in Latvia, I was so stressed. I’ve been used to travelling by myself over the years, so all of a sudden, having my family and friends in here too and putting together a team, it’s been a steep learning curve for everybody – but the dynamic has been great and the bonds are so tight.
“Like me, they are all stubborn and they all have a winning mentality. None of them were happy when we left Rīga, so you really have to cherish moments like this. This is big. It feels special.”
What pleased Bakkerud even more than the result in the ‘Red Cauldron’ was the manner in which he achieved it. In a high-calibre, 30-strong Euro RX1 field – the largest seen at the pinnacle of the sport in almost a decade – he set the pace in two of the four Qualifying sessions to secure Top Qualifier honours, and then won both his Quarter-Final and Semi-Final.
That earned the Bergen native pole position for the all-important Final, with his long-time nemesis – eight-time World Champion, Johan Kristoffersson – alongside. He admits it brought back memories.
“As I was driving to the pre-grid, I got a flashback to Barcelona, 2020 – the last time I was on pole for a Final in World RX, again with Johan next to me,” he recollected in an interview with Talking Loose. “I remembered the radio message I had sent to the team that day. I told them, ‘We’ve got the chance, do you want me to go for it, because the risk will be high, or should I be smart?’ They told me to go for it, and after the start, he was a bit ahead, he came in hard, I hit the barrier, spun round, Robin Larsson hit my door and it was one of the hardest crashes I’ve ever had.
“So I had that in my head, and I knew I had to face him into Turn One before he faced me. He always pulls something out of the bag when he needs to and he had a flier away from the line, but I went high, avoided any contact and flicked it into Turn One. We’d made a few changes to the car and it felt very good, and when I heard Juha [Rytkönen] was behind me after Turn Two, I could drive my own race, which was an awesome feeling.”
The reason it was Rytkönen and not Kristoffersson behind was that the Swede had been sent spinning into the tyres after finding himself on the gripless outside line on entry to the first corner. But even allowing for that and disregarding the opening tour due to his delay, on his comeback charge, the most successful driver of the sport’s modern era could not match Bakkerud’s prodigious pace, with the race-winner posting a better outright fastest lap and better five-lap average.
“I remember in World RX in 2017 and 2018, I saw Johan’s rear bumper so many times!” the Ford Fiesta ace remarked. “Even though we didn’t race together for many years after that, I always felt I was as good a driver as him but I never had the equipment to beat him.
“I’m a rallycross fan, first and foremost, and to beat KMS in a Final is important for the whole paddock to see. For a few years now, they have been so dominant, which hasn’t been fun for anybody else. Everybody feels it’s not possible to beat them, but we have shown that when we put everything together and get everything right, it is possible – there is a chance to beat the VWs.”
The icing on the cake is a one-point championship lead that Bakkerud will carry over Kristoffersson into the third round of the season at Höljes in Sweden in July – rallycross’ legendary ‘Magic Weekend’. He might have won the latest battle, but he is fully aware that many more lie ahead.
“We have to keep this momentum going,” he asserted. “We can’t ease up, because we know KMS are continuously developing – they seem to have solved the issue they were having at the starts, they are pushing all the buttons they can and they will clearly be after redemption in their home event. Budgets are obviously tight, but if we want to take the fight to them again, we need to keep on developing as well. We’re going to give it a go!”
