Britain has a new Gold medalist… but you can forget the Olympics as this is a little more extreme. Kent ‘s Liam Doran blew away the competition at X Games 17 last night to take top spot in the final which saw him go head-to-head with former WRC double-champion Marcus Gronholm.
Doran who is currently contesting the European Rally Cross series went up against some of the biggest names in the sport including Tanner Foust who is currently leading the ERC series and is a 3 time X Games Gold medalist.
“It felt amazing putting it all out there,” an overjoyed Doran said. “I went out and I started winning and when you get on a winning streak you go.”
As a result of beating Foust, Doran set up the final against rally legend Marcus Gronholm which would see the top spot contested over the best of three races, Doran wouldn’t need the three races though and despite it being close at times took two “Easy” victories to claim the medal.
“My team is the best team in the world,” Doran said. “The car was the same from the first run to the last run. I owe it to everyone, and I have done it.”
“It was fun,” Gronholm said of his performance. “But the whole day I have not been happy with my driving so that was not so enjoyable.”
Doran’s pace was too much for rally legend Marcus Gronholm
The Bronze medal race was won easily by David Higgins as despite Foust getting the jump on him from the start his car broke down just after, leaving him helplessly sitting on the sidelines as Higgins lapped the LA circuit.
“Words cannot describe it,” Higgins said “The atmosphere, the whole thing. There is no room for error anywhere with the brick walls and cars and everything. It is probably the most wild thing you can do in a car, but it is brilliant.”
You can enjoy the highlights of the final here…
X Games Rally Car Racing Overview
Rally Car Racing features drivers racing modified street legal cars on closed sections of the city streets. The goal in Rally Car Racing is to accumulate the lowest elapsed driving time while racing in two-car, head-to-head heats. The three-quarter mile long Rally course, alongside the concrete cityscape of Los Angeles, includes two sections of raw dirt. In each heat, drivers will complete two laps of the entire course, which must include one traditional Rally Joker lap. The Joker lap forces drivers to launch their car over a 52-foot dirt-to-dirt gap jump. Actual finish order determines advancement throughout the competition.
