Wigan racer Tony Lynch had a race day to forget at round three of the 2015 Shannon Group MSA British Rallycross Championship held at Pembrey last weekend.
The Lucas Oils Team Geriatric squad were hoping that a new close range gearbox in the fully repaired MINI Cooper S would allow Lynch to get his MSA SuperNational title challenge back on track after suffering with a damaged wheel in the Final at the previous round at Lydden Hill. In fact in the first heat at Pembrey, he pulled off one of the day’s more spectacular overtakes for the lead, but a red flag meant he had work to do.
At the restart Lynch suffered a driveshaft failure which would return to trouble him again in heat two. He made it through heat three without mechanical issue and this meant he qualified for the B Final. However after a clash with Mike Howlin, Lynch failed to take victory, ending his hopes for the day.
Despite the mechanical issues that plagued him, Tony was happy with the progress made with the latest upgrade to the car.
“We expected Pembrey to be tough as a power circuit, but we didn’t expect it to go like that,” he said. “It was so frustrating for me behind the wheel and while my boys were as magnificent as ever in dealing with everything that was thrown at them, they didn’t deserve to have to go through the issues they did.
“When the car was running as it should, it was clear to see that the new gearbox has made a huge improvement to the car once again and will allow us to take another step forwards in performance. Unfortunately, we didn’t anticipate the change putting so much additional strain on the driveshaft, with the end result being two failures that ultimately ended our challenge.
“While I had to be careful after the first two heats, we still could have made it into the A Final if it hadn’t been for the clash with Mike which was unfortunate, but is one of those things that can happen.”
However, Lynch is confident for the double header weekend at Mondello Park next month.
“Clearly we now need to address the driveshaft problem in time for the next round so that we can really make the most of the new gearbox and continue to push forwards up the grid.
“Luckily, we haven’t had to deal with many weekends like this in recent years but the good thing is that we know what needs to be done and we’ll come out fighting when we get to Mondello Park next time out.”
The next two rounds of the British Rallycross Championship take place at Mondello Park in the Republic of Ireland over the weekend of 27-28 June.