British Rallycross

2018 MSA British Rallycross Championship: Season Preview – Part 2

3 Mins read
Lydden Hill British Rallycross
Credit: Matt Bristow | www.rubberduckdoes.com

Following on from part one of our 2018 MSA British Rallycross Championship preview, we now take a look at the remaining MSA British Rallycross Championship classes.

Super 1600 Rallycross Championship

Credit: Matt Bristow | www.rubberduckdoes.com

Super 1600 will be amalgamated with Supernational for the 2018 campaign and the current champion Paul Coney will be looking for his third successive title.

2017 Vice champion Darren Scott will be looking to push for glory in 2018, after his maiden development year in the category.

2016 champion Craig Lomax will be hoping to put his catalogue of mechanical woes last season behind him and make a bid for the title this year.

The experienced pairing of Micheal Boak and Phil Chicken will also be driving for championship glory; As will 2014 returning champion Jack Thorn.

Expect door to door action all season long from these guys.

One to Watch: Possibly the hardest of all categories to predict but Paul Coney has the experience and guile to keep the rest of the pack behind him.

MSA Supernational Championship

Credit:  Matt Bristow | www.rubberduckdoes.com

As mentioned previously, this year the Supernational cars will race alongside the Super1600 cars, making for bumper grids.

Will it be too close to call? Can Tristan Ovenden retain his championship crown after stealing it last year in his debut year in the class?

2016 champion Tony Lynch will without a doubt be pushing for his second championship.

2017 runner up Paige Bellerby will be looking to go one step further in 2017, after fading in the latter part of season, she starts the season in a Vauxhall VXR rather than the usual Lotus Exige do to pre-season preperation running late, don’t rule her out though!

Throw into the mix the experience of seasoned campaigners such as Michael Howlin, Gary Simpson, Guy Corner and Alan Tapscott, all event winners in the past.

In a class where consistency is the key to success above all, the Supernational crown could go right to the wire and be decided at the final round for the second successive year.

One to Watch: Current Champion Tristan Ovenden will be the man to beat as long as his fire breathing Clio V6 stays the course.

MSA British Rallycross Championship

Credit: Matt Bristow | www.rubberduckdoes.com

So what likely to happen with Supercars? There has been a lot of discussion about switching to all electric and dropping this and that on the world stage, but remember sport at the top level evolves and changes, however at a national level Supercars will be around and raced for many years yet!

2017 champion Nathan Heathcote has announced he will not be defending his title in 2018 which leaves the title race wide open.

Five time champion Julian Godfrey will be looking for that elusive sixth title, while 2007 British Champion Ollie O’Donovan has already announced his intentions to focus on the British Championship in 2018.

Kevin Procter will almost certainly be in the mix as will crowd favourite Steve Hill and his distinctive Mitsubishi Evo X.

British Rally ace Mark Higgins is set to Drive at least the first two rounds in a link up with Albatec Racing and National Centre for Motorsport Engineering.

Albatec principle Andy Scott is also due to race at round 1, there is no news about further outings for him, perhaps he feels the time is right to better his third place in the championship in 2010, lets hope so.

2017 Debutante Oliver Bennett has already announced a limited World RX calendar and will also race in select British rounds looking to better his third place.

Seasoned campaigners Andy Grant and Mad Mark are also set to throw their hats into the ring.

At the time of writing there is no news from LD Motorsport regarding their intentions for 2018, but you can guarantee that they will be out there at some point this year. It would be a shame not to see Warren Scott return after such an impressive first year in 2017

The opening round at Silverstone looks set to be bolstered by World RX talent, Team Peugeot Total have entered Timmy Hansen and nine time FIA World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb.

Monster Energy athlete Guerlain Chichent is also set to drive at the opening round in his Renault Clio R.S. RX and the last minute addition of EKS Audi Sport driver Andreas Bakkerud, who will also be lining up at the first round.

One to Watch: Make no mistake the 2018 will wind up being a battle royale between 3 or 4 drivers. However just for his sheer consistency Julian Godfrey will be hard to beat.

Without a doubt 2018 will be an exciting year for British Rallycross as the championship strives to be more professional and bring rallycross fans more of the door to door action that they and us for that matter have come to love.

We here at The Checkered Flag will be reporting on every round.

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