British Rallycross

Albatec Takes British Rallycross Victories in Supercars and RX150’s at Lydden Hill

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Albatec Racing enjoyed a successful day at Lydden Hill during Round Two of the 2015 MSA British Rallycross Championship.

In the MSA Supercars, team principal Andy Scott endured a lengthy A Final victory, which got going after 4 starts and which saw a 10 car grid reduced to 7 by the final start. Scott chased 2014 Champion Julian Godfrey in his Ford Fiesta Supercar who took the lead from the off Scott, however damage to the Fiesta after Godfrey made contact with the barrier allowed Scott to come through on the last lap to take his second victory of the season in the Albatec Racing Peugeot 208RX.

Scott’s team-mate Mark Flaherty, making his full time return to Rallycross after a 20 year abscence, experienced a positive days racing as he learnt about the Peugeot 208RX whilst progressing through the Heat Stages to qualify for the A Final. However, contact with the barrier at the first start followed by contact with Kevin Procter at the third start put paid to Flaherty going any further.

In the RX150 Class, Marc Scott enjoyed a return to form at Lydden Hill after suffering a difficult event last time out at Croft. Scott took three Heat Wins on his way to qualifying on the front row for the final and in the final itself he went to give a commanding performance as he took the win ahead of Chrissy Palmer and Steve Jones.

RX150 debutant Murray Coulthard, nephew of 13 time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard, experienced a difficult debut in the class as he made contact with the banking in Heat One which caused suspension damage and ended his days running.

Team Principal Andy Scott was relieved to take the MSA Supercar win.“Well that was a hard day, more so than at Croft, as we came away with quite a bit of damage to mine and Mark’s car.” explained Scott.

“There was carnage across the races, and I was pretty lucky that Julian had his problem, as I suffered broken power steering after taking a hit in the first start, but hey we’ll take a win anywhere we can,

“The final was tough, particularly with ten cars, it was too many really, but I think they were concerned about getting through the race in time. Hopefully we won’t suffer as much damage in the next round and we can continue to extend our championship lead.”

Mark Flaherty took the positives away from his return to the British Rallycross Championship. “Well it wasn’t the end to the day I wanted, but I’m pleased to have got through to the final ahead of some pretty quick drivers. The car was great, the team did a fantastic job, super professional, and I can’t fault them. I was feeling confident of a good result, it was just unfortunate that I was hit and the car was too damaged to continue,” Flaherty explained.

“I think we improved throughout the day as I got more used to the transverse car, which naturally handles differently from the in-line car I’m used to, but there were no reliability issues, so I’m really looking forward to getting back into the car for the next round where hopefully we can get a better result.”

Marc Scott reflected on a successful return to form at Lydden Hill. “It’s great to be back at the front and suffer no problems, I hardly needed to do a thing to the buggy all day. It’s a completely different animal to the old one. 

“The field is a lot more competitive this year and although it may have looked easy, it certainly wasn’t. I’ve moved up the points a few places I think, so we just need to continue that going into the next round to build on the weekend and get my championship hopes back on track.”

Murray Coulthard expressed his desire to return the the RX150 Class, “I really enjoyed the experience and would love to have another go, it certainly keeps you on your toes and is a great sport to be involved in.

“It is pretty much as I expected and although I’m more used to rally stages, I found the nature of rallycross really exciting. I just would have liked to have had more running rather than taking the heavy hit in the first heat.”

Albatec Racing will now regroup and prepare the Peugeot 208RX Supercars for a test session with their EuroRX driver lineup of James Grint and Jerome Grosset-Janin before Round Three of the 2015 MSA British Rallycross Championship takes place at Pembrey in Wales on 10 May.

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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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