Despite looking likely to miss the event, Pat Doran took victory at Bank Holiday round of the Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill, and in doing so became the first driver to win two rounds in the 2010 season.
The reigning champion injured his back in the build up to the event, and looked certain to miss the Lydden Hill round.
If that had happened, he would have had to rely on a pair of extremely strong performances in the final two rounds of the 2010 season in order to successfully defend his title.
In doing so, Doran has moved into the lead of the championship standings, with 151-points to his name, compared to 141 of second placed Andy Grant, and third placed Andy Scott on 11-points.
The Superfinal brought bad luck for Grant, his Peugeot 306 suffered transmission problems on the second lap. He managed to finish, albeit last, a result which him lose ground in the championship to Doran.
Scott endured an torrid time in the Superfinal, as a puncture on the fourth lap scuppered his chances of a victory.
After seeing Scott and Grant fall foul of circumstance, Doran overcame his own problems to win the Superfinal and become the first driver in 2010 to claim victory twice.
Early into the race Doran suffered the scare of his throttle jamming open. He quickly turned the engine off and on, which luckily fixed the problem. From then on he worked his way through the field, passing the hapless Scott late on to take the victory.
Speaking of the uncertainty in the lead-up to the Lydden Hill round, Doran said “I’ve hurt my back before and it’s taken six weeks to fix so I didn’t think I’d be fit to race. But I felt better and better each day so I thought I’d give it a go.
Summing up his decision to compete, and of the perfect result, Doran added “I’m really pleased that I did [compete at Lydden Hill]”.
The Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship has two rounds to go in the 2010 season. The crews head to Blyton on September 12th, before the season finale at Pembrey on October 10th.
