British Rallycross

Dan Rooke – “We couldn’t have asked for much more”

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MSA British Rallycross Championship Round 5 2016. Duivelsberg Circuit, Massmechelen, Belgium. (c) MATT BRISTOW | Rubber Duck Does Automotive Photography

Dan Rooke continued to dominate the 2016 MSA British Rallycross Championship as he took an emphatic victory at the Belgian venue of Maasmechelen in his LD Motorsports Citroen DS3 Supercar.

Rooke, who made his debut at the circuit last weekend, started as he meant to go on by going fastest in Q1 on Saturday evening and then followed that performance up by going fastest in both Q2 and Q3 on Sunday to line up in his Semi-Final race on pole position. He dominated his Semi-final race to convert that victory into pole for the Supercar Final where he held the lead to take victory ahead of previous British RX champions Julian Godfrey and Ollie O’Donovan.

The 2015 MSA SuperNational Champion has been the surprise of the season as he leads the Drivers Championship in his first ever season in the MSA Supercar class, having taken victory previously at Lydden Hill and further podium places at Croft and Pembrey.

Rooke explained how he enjoyed his first visit to the Belgian venue, “I really, really enjoyed the track in Belgium, I think the tight and twisty nature of it suited me well,”

“Back when I was racing in autocross I used to enjoy the tight tracks. It mixes it up a bit; the tracks in the UK are really fast so it’s nice to be on a more technical circuit. We didn’t know what to expect arriving here and I was really nervous going into practice because I was a bit anxious about some of the fast tight corners.

“I didn’t get a very clean practice so I didn’t know where the pace was. Luckily I got a good start in Q1 and from there I led. I didn’t realise how much pace we had until we looked at the times and I was four seconds faster than anyone else.”

Rooke explained how he was feeling more confident with the Citroen Supercar as his season has continued, “I just kept my head down and kept going the whole weekend. We got the bonus points here too, it’s been a really strong haul of points.

“We couldn’t have asked for much more at all. I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with the car all the time and I’m really looking forward to going back to Lydden Hill for the next round,” continued Rooke. “I’m feeling much happier to throw the car around now whereas before I was a bit nervous of it, so hopefully we can continue this pace.”

After taking such a dominant win, Rooke laid out his target for the rest of the season, “The aim is to try and protect our championship lead, but I also want to win as much as I can too,” he said. “The target has to be to finish on the podium at each round, and then see what we can do.”

 

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I have been a very passionate fan of Motorsport for over 30 years with Touring Cars as my favourite form of Motor Racing. I cover The TCR UK Series, The TCR Europe Series and The FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) as well as following various TCR Series around the world.
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