Ahead of this weekend’s FIA World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill, Supercar racer Derek Tohill has made the decision to withdraw from the fourth round.
Being the World Rallycross event back for Tohill since his last one in November 2014, the two-time European Rallycross TouringCar Champion has hoped to get some additional seat time in PFRCX’s new 600bhp Ford Fiesta Supercar.
However, a change of plan has seen Tohill withdraw from the running and instead is now concentrating on preparing for the next round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship, which will be taking place in Hell in Norway on the 11/12 June.
Earlier this month, the PFCRX team made its return to international rallycross, finishing in overall twelfth place at the opening round of the Euro RX in Belgium. The team’s strong opening result sees it through to the second round of the series, where they will race as a non-permanent entry this year.
Tohill has commented upon the decision to withdraw, saying; “We have a hell of a lot of work to do to the Supercar after Belgium so we’ve decided to concentrate on being as organised as possible before the next Euro RX race in Hell. We’ve not been part of the European Championship for almost three years now and there have been a lot of positive significant changes and developments since we last participated. These changes require some more time to prepare, develop and test our new car.”
“We need to learn how to get the most out of our new package and the larger team we now have. Personally I also need to be more focused on my driving and trust the team to have everything else in place so I can get the most out of myself and the car. The team is working hard with its partners to continue building on our strengths, we have a great group of people but we know that being competitive in European Rallycross requires a huge amount of hard work and development.”
“Everything needs to happen naturally and eventually everything becomes second nature, we know this takes time to happen. We need to be patient and build some momentum step-by-step in a methodical manner. Our aim is to try and get some testing in a non-race environment as soon as possible, in the mean time; we look forward to returning to Hell.”
“I would like to thank the team, our partners and our supporters for their continued support.” he added.