Derek Tohill completed his 2016 campaign of the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars in style as he claimed a top ten finish at the Euro RX of Latvia.
The Irish driver put the prior knowledge gained from a testing session during the Summer break to good use as he went 9th quickest in Q1, however he suffered an engine issue in Q2 which left in him in 11th place overall after the first days action.
On the second days running, the former double European Rallycross TouringCar Champion placed his OlsbergsMSE built Ford Fiesta 9th in Q3 and then eighth fastest in Q4 to secure a semi-final start, before being classified sixth in Semi-Final one to end the Irish squad’s first international season at the sport’s top level. This led to him being classified 10th overall after the event itself.
Tohill explained how happy he was to end the season this way, “Day one was really good apart from the bad start in Q2. We would have been higher up but for that, and it was a good recovery for us to be inside the top 12. Our previous experience of the circuit went out of the window on Sunday morning, when we woke up and the heavens were fully open,” explained the Irish driver.
“We floated between seventh and 11th all weekend and we were pleased to qualify in ninth. We deserved that; we had pace in the dry and in the wet. We had a great start in the semi-final, got caught up in the first corner mix which bent the rear suspension and then we struggled for the rest of the race. It was a shame to have to drive the last six laps of the event like that, but a top ten finish is a good way to end the year.”
The PFCRX Squad now looks to the final round of the Irish Rallycross Championship, where they have an outside chance of winning the title:
“There was a lot of support from the fans and we had a lot of our customers, partners and sponsors with us this weekend who had a great time at a great venue. Now we’re looking forward to supporting the IRX at home, which we have a very outside chance of winning having missed a couple of rounds.”
