2007 British Rallycross Champion Ollie O’Donovan once again managed to qualify for the Semi-Finals in round four of the 2017 FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars, however his luck ended there.
The London based Irishman guided his Team RX Racing Ford Fiesta through changing conditions at Loheac in France, known as the Temple of Rallycross to many, to finish Qualifying in twelfth place and take the last of the Semi-Final places. His highest placing during Qualifying was tenth place in Q2.
As O’Donovan started Semi-Final One, contact into the first turn with Frenchman Jerome Grosset-Janin meant that the Tony Bardy Motorsport prepared Ford suffered suspension damage which also led to a spin into the wall. This ended the former British RX Champion’s weekend and he would be classified twelfth overall.
O’Donovan was happy to have seen an improvement in pace during the weekend.
“I’ve been to Loheac a few times in the last few years, but this weekend was much better in terms of our pace and our understanding of the track, which has very different characteristics to other rallycross circuits in UK and the rest of Europe,” explained the London based Irishman.
“We had to work hard in the qualifying races, but with a good time in the wet in Q4, we made the semi-finals. We had a clear plan for the first corner of that race; we made a good start but it was disappointing to get hit, which eventually put us out.”
However, with there being under eight days before the final round of the 2017 FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars at the Riga circuit in Latvia, there isn’t much time to get the Ford Fiesta repaired for the event.
“It’s a huge shame that the accident has meant the truck has had to go back to Tony (Bardy)’s workshops in Yorkshire to so the car can be repaired in time for the next European race in Latvia. That’s motorsport sometimes – we will fight hard to make the semi-finals and final again in Latvia.”