As they embark on their third season in the Supercar class, Derek Tohill and the PFCRX team will be aiming to rise further up the European Rallycross Championship leaderboards this year. Having consistently fought hard to get into the finals of each round during 2017, the Irish squad hope to claim their maiden Euro RX Supercar podium this time around.
Being part of the Supercar class, Tohill and the PFCRX crew will be competing in top-tier Rallycross machinery. The team’s weapon of choice for 2018 is a 600 horsepower, four-wheel drive OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta RX that goes by the name of ‘Molly’. The team has run the car in both of their previous Euro RX Supercar campaigns, however, Tohill will be hoping to see a marked difference in his car’s performance. Having spent a positive pre-season with development specialists C-Sport, winter testing concluded with a victory in a local event held at Mondello Park.
Speaking before the start of 2018 season, Tohill commented on the adjustments made to his car over the winter, and on his prospects for the year ahead: “I’ve been asked several times what we’ve done over the winter, but being honest it’s more a case of what we haven’t done. We have looked at every area and the boys at C-Sport have worked very hard on the car which has had a full rebuild along with continued development.
“We have a revised engine from Mountune and we go to Barcelona this weekend hoping for an improvement on our result there from last season, where we finished fifth. Of course we cannot underestimate the level of the competition, there is a huge amount of quality in the championship and one poor qualifying time in any event can leave you out of the running, but that’s what makes it such an appealing challenge.
“The whole team is really at one with Molly the Fiesta now, we’ve known her for a few years and progressed year-on-year. We’re all working as hard as we can to continue that trend this season. We had a good shakedown at Mondello last week, it helped us iron some things out before the truck left for Spain. It’s always nice to drive at home, and to support Irish rallycross. But, we can’t wait to get started with our main focus this weekend.
“Outside of the car, another of my plans for moving forward this year is to keep everyone more up to date via our social media channels, so check them out and give us a follow.”