Another weekend of technical issues meant that despite showing promising pace the Monster Energy World RX team came away from Lydden Hill empty handed.
The second round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship got underway on Saturday and with the morning practice out of the way the day looked promising, unfortunately this wasn’t to be as a puncture and an overheated turbocharger left Liam Doran and Kyzysztof Skorupski in twenty-seventh and thirty-third places respectively overnight.
Day two was greeted with a record-breaking crowd for a rallycross event at Lydden and a new hope for the Monster Energy team. Heat three couldn’t have gone any better as Skorupski and Doran took home a 1-2 finish; Heat four would see Doran take victory in his race, unfortunately though this would not be enough to make it through to the semi-finals, with the final result ranking Doran in 20th and Skorupski in 27th.
“I can honestly say I drove as hard as I could, and I’m sorry to the team and fans that I couldn’t get the result we all wanted,” said Doran. “We’ve had an incredibly difficult start to the year, and there’s no getting around the fact that things haven’t exactly picked up yet.
“It does go to show how competitive the level is now, which is great for the sport. Even a single bad heat result can cost you a place in the finals. There’s a lot to look forward to though; and I’m staying focused. Our cars are fast, the team is working so hard, and we’ve got a lot of races ahead of us.
“If you keep performances like heat three and four in mind, then there’s no reason we can’t repeat them and be on the podium in the next races. I’m looking ahead to Norway now – I won there last year, so I’m feeling good about it. I’m also racing at X-Games in between then, so it’s time to fight back.”
Skorupski, the 2012 European Rallycross vice-champion was left ruing the luck that has accompanied the team for the opening races.
“It’s unbelievable how much bad luck we’ve had in the first two rounds, I’m 100% sure that we have the car to be in the top three. We had a really bad Saturday, Liam had a problem with his turbo, and then I got the puncture in heat two.
“In heat three we were so fast and finished 1-2. Even when I lost time behind Hedstrom going through the joker lap, I still managed to stay in the lead and win the race. I was seventh overall in the ranking for that heat, so it just shows what we can do if we get in the lead.
“We can’t afford to make any more mistakes. We haven’t scored in two rounds, and that needs to change in Norway. The cars are fast, and if we can just have a weekend without any bad luck, we’ll be fighting for the top positions.”
The FIA World Rallycross Championship continues with round three and the World RX of Norway in Hell on the 14/15 June.
