2007 British Rallycross Champion Ollie O’Donovan has announced his Rallycross programme for 2016, where he will compete in both the MSA British Rallycross Championship and the FIA European Rallycross Championship.
The London based Irishman enjoyed a successful campaign in BritishRX last year where he took two wins on the way to challenging for the title all the way to the final round at Croft, whilst in EuroRX he qualified for the Supercar Finals at both Hell and Barcelona.
O’Donovan’s plan is to start the 2016 British season off with the Mk2 Ford Focus Supercar at Croft as the Ford Fiesta is being updated by Tony Bardy Motorsport ahead of the opening round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship at Mettet in Belgium in May. The Fiesta will then be used in both series as the year progresses.
O’Donovan is looking forward to the challenge that the British Series will present in 2016:
“I’m excited to get back into the Supercar at Croft. It feels like a long time since we were there last October for the final round of the British Championship and Rallycross Grand Prix. We (Team RX Racing) had a really strong year last season and we need to build on that performance going forward. We have the pace and I really want to win the British Championship again, that’s my goal,” said O’Donovan.
With his improving performances last year in EuroRX, the Irishman is looking to make more progress during the 2016 season:
“Last year was very much a learning year in Europe for us. The tracks were new, the car was new to us and I haven’t spent that much time in a car for quite a few years. We want to improve this season, but I know the competition is going to be even harder than it was last year. Knowledge of some of the circuits will certainly help us to be quicker out of the box. I’ve always wanted to race at Holjes in Sweden so that will be fantastic, and the new event in Latvia looks like it will be interesting too. To get into the finals is the goal again, and I’d really like to be on the podium at a European event this season.”
O’Donovan will be joined in Team RX Racing by TV Presenter and Superbike ace Guy Martin, who will drive the Focus at an as yet unconfirmed round of BritishRX this year and the reaction to this news has been popular:
“We announced Guy’s involvement with us at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham last month, and I was really taken aback with how popular he is, just by having his name on the side of the car at the show generated a lot of interest. We will do a test with Guy later in the year, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he gets on.”
Team RX Racing recently ran a competition to design a livery for the Supercar machines this season. Details of the winning design will be revealed in the coming weeks.
