The 2022 British Rallycross Championship awarded titles in nine different categories. Each of the winning drivers had a season full of ups and downs. After speaking to each of them see how they reviewed their season’s in their own words. Each driver was posed six questions. How does it feel to be champion? Anything can happen in Rallycross, what’s an example of that for you? What’s been your best moment while racing? What are some issues you’ve had to overcome? How much effort has it taken to get you racing? And what are your plans for next season?
Patrick O’Donovan – Supercar – Ford Fiesta
On being champion – “It feels amazing. It’s a dream come true. It’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was five or six, running around the paddock terrorising everyone on my scooter. Ever since then, it’s been something I’ve been imagining one day that would be insane if I could. To be actually be able to achieve something like that, something I’ve been dreaming of for so long it’s really really special to me. To be able to bring home a title my dad once had is even more special”
Anything can happen – “In our last outing in Pembrey in heat two my gear shifter snapped in the tunnel and it came off into my hand. So I had a tiny bit of metal sticking out of the tunnel and had to finish the heat like that. Managed to win it with Julian [Godfrey] breathing down my neck. We didn’t manage to fix it for the semi-final. Eventually we managed to fix it but I did another few heats with some rebar sticking out of the tunnel so I didn’t have reverse, didn’t have neutral. It was quite fun turning up to the line knowing if I stall it, that’s it you’re parking up.”
Best moment – “I’ve got two. For British, it was yesterday’s Semi-Final [round ten]. I stalled it on the line. When I put my foot down it was building revs but not boost pressure so when I went the car cut off. I was five seconds off everyone going into turn one. I couldn’t see a thing coming out of turn one, everything was smearing mud over the windscreen, somehow we managed to get back up and win the race by a few seconds. In Riga my first RX2e win. I did a switch back and around the outside so I was quite happy with that.”
Issues – “Not really no, quite simple.”
Effort to get racing – “It’s taken a lot of effort. There’s been a lot of really, really late nights for the team. It’s been a team effort. We’ve been trying to get this title back for a few years now and it’s not gone our way for quite some time. For them to put so much into it every weekend and some of them every day of the year. It’s really nice to be able to get something to bring back for them. Not just for me but they deserve it all.”
2023 – “No comment, no idea”
Max Langmaid – Junior – Suzuki Swift
On being champion – “It’s pretty amazing. I think I’m the first Junior to do it twice. It’s not under the best circumstances with the race being cancelled today. Pretty surreal. Team’s pretty happy. It’s nice to have loads of friends and family here. It’s pretty amazing.”
Anything can happen – “Two examples. Round two you had my crash with Will [Ovenden] and then both missed quite a few points. We’ve both ended up on the podium in the championship. We’ve had a day’s racing cancelled due to the weather which none of us expected.”
Best moment – “Probably in Mondello Park. Off the line going into the hairpin. All of us had a huge lockup. I got on the handbrake and managed to save it. Instead of hitting the wall I just drifted out of the corner, saved the car from another catastrophe.”
Issues – “At Pembrey after my crash with Will I had a bent strut. As we turned corners the alignment was changing, the camber was changing. And the second time we went there I had a fuel pipe fall off which we don’t really know how that happened. That’s just racing I guess.”
Effort to get racing – “Well it’s a huge team effort. From my sponsors, they help out so much. It wouldn’t be possible without anyone on the car. My family are absolutely amazing putting up with me. They help so much. And my friends support me, help me, advise me and put up with me. It’s just an insane team effort. I’m just super grateful.”
2023 – “No, I have no idea. We have a couple of options. My car’s up for sale but we do have another junior car that I could race next year. I have a senior Swift or a BMW Mini.”
Jason Bleasdale – Supernational – Vauxhall VX220
On being champion – “It feels awesome. To defend the title from 2022. That’s what I came into this season wanting to do. We got it done with 1 round to spare, great.”
Anything can happen – “Probably Belgium when you feel like everything has gone wrong and you feel like putting your car on the trailer. But then you’ve got a good team behind and they’ve rebuilt the car and put it back on the track. It’s Rallycross, anything can happen. That was a split decision that just went wrong for me.”
Best moment – “Winning in Ireland against that tough field of Irish cars on the Saturday [for round five]. That was probably the highlight for me.”
Issues – “The engine failure we suffered at Pembrey [in August]. It was a big failure in the engine and then jump into a spare car the following day. That was probably the biggest challenge jumping in a car I haven’t driven in over a year. Bit of a challenge but we managed to do it.”
Effort to get racing – “It’s taken quite a bit to be fair. It’s been a long hard season this year. Very, very busy this year and it’s took its toll on the team and the wife. She’s looking forward to the winter break. Big team effort.”
2023 – “We haven’t really got anything set in stone yet. I’ve seen the calendar. There’s a few events I want to take part in.”
Dave Bellerby – BMW Mini – BMW R53 Mini Cooper S
On being champion – “Oh it’s wonderful. It’s really good. There are a lot of youngsters out there. They’re very good, very keen, very sharp. But you need a lot of luck. I have a fair amount of experience and I’m able to keep calm. I don’t get excited so I watch where everybody is.”
Anything can happen – “I think they’ve all been pretty hard. Brad [Turner] has been the main competitor and he’s on my heels all the time. Everybody’s quick. The Mini group is good, good people.”
Best moment – “I’ve been very fortunate this year. Fairly fault free. Last time I came here I couldn’t get into second. I finished well down in both of those runs. All in all I can’t think of anything that made it hard for me to keep running.”
Issues – “That’s about it. I’m trying to tutor these young kids and they’re not learning.”
Effort to get racing – “It takes a massive effort. We’re a small team, we have our bus which we’ve had for a lot of year. We do our own fixing, we work on the cars at home. It’s been hard work. Ten rounds is a lot. Can’t compete in another year that’s been as intense as this.”
2023 – “We don’t have a clue. Paige [Bellerby] is third the first time out in that Mini so I don’t know.”
David Bell – All4 Mini – Mini Countryman
On being champion – “It’s been a good year. We’ve had some good results with the car. We’ve had a better year than the previous year.”
Anything can happen – “Today really. The abandonment of the event which is relatively unheard of. In the last thirty years I can only remember one other event being abandoned and that was due to fog.”
Best moment – “The All4’s made some spectacular starts in comparison to some of the two wheel drive cars we’ve been racing against. That’s probably been the highlight. I enjoy racing full stop so it’s all a highlight.”
Issues – “No great issues this year. The car’s done most of the development work last year so most of the bugs ironed out. It’s been a fairly issue free season. We’re still waiting for some of the development bits coming from people so that’s been a little bit of a hindrance but we’ve worked around it.”
Effort to get racing – “It’s always a big team effort, couldn’t do it without all the lads who come on weekends and evenings.”
2023 – “More of the same, All4 Minis next year. All of the British Championship rounds and maybe some BTRDA events as well.”
Max Weatherley – Swift – Suzuki Swift
On being champion – “Everything that’s happened this year, getting the new guys onboard it’s come together at the right time. Mondello everything was broken, we didn’t know how to fix it and the budget was running out. Found these guys to help us out. Since then it’s all come together. Pembrey pole won every qualifying and won the final. To be able to race them wheel to wheel, never any contact and then move forward with such close racing with all of us is incredible to then turn that into a result that’s like oh by the way, you won it. You can’t imagine how it feels to put everything into something constantly getting the best out of it. Adding it all together and then getting the final result is the best feeling on the planet.”
Anything can happen – “Mondello. Car perfect happy days and then all of a sudden for no apparent reason the gearbox explodes. Slave master cylinder broke. First lap in practice, liking the new track, try to change into second then clutch goes to the floor. Never saw that coming.”
Best moment – “The Lydden [round three, Q1] around the outside, that was a good start to the year. And then my next personal favourite was Pembrey. I was on the back of the grid. I was thinking how are we going to get this back. Things happening and taking opportunities wherever I could and snapping that chance and going let’s just drive the absolute nuts off this thing, how fast can it go. Those kinds of moments where it all comes together and the car’s perfect you can’t beat that. Pembrey for me was that moment.”
Issues – “The Mondello one for example. At Pembrey for round three. I started on P2, got into the lead and won Q1. Q2 the drive throttle explodes and I watched my beautiful lead as I pulled onto the straight and sat there and parked and I’ve got to do it all again.”
Effort to get racing – “It’s everything. Me doing two jobs, my dad helping out wherever he can. Bringing the EDSL team which was a hard convince. I’m basically using these guys for free and they’re giving me their time, their energy, their equipment, their skillset and to get them to want them to do it with me and make everything that was going wrong change it and make everything happen. Make it a perfect result in Pembrey, you can’t ask for anything more than that. Horizon Motor group has been helping throughout all of it when it was just me, my mate who’s doing my mechanical work who’s a trained hairdresser. It’s been a real struggle and it’s taken every bit of energy. To pull it all together is a relief.”
2023 – “Same again, I’d love to afford something else but it’s not possible. The car’s awesome and we’ve got it nailed. The team’s brilliant and I’m loving it all.”
Ben Hardy – RX150 – RX150
On being champion – “It feels pretty good considering it’s my first year. Quite chuffed with it really.”
Anything can happen – “I don’t really know really. I’ve been in the right places, been a bit lucky obviously. I’ve had a clean run with the buggy. No drama apart from maybe the water pump today. I didn’t make the first round out because of a gearbox problem. Other than that it’s been alright, been reliable.”
Best moment – “They’ve all been good. I used to do oval racing so turning left and changing gear are all different.”
Issues – “It’s all been clean sailing. Ollie comes down with Steve I’ve had no issues, easy really. As long as I turn up it’s easy.”
Effort to get racing – “Not too much. I like racing. If I had my way I’d be racing every weekend. I’m a petrol head, been doing it for a long time but never rallycross. Anything with an engine I’d love to jump in and have a go.”
2023 – “Not sure yet, go have a chat with Ollie. Hopefully carry on but we’ll see nearer the time.”
Tony Lynch – Retro – Toyota MR2
On being champion – “It’s good, I think a little earlier than expected. Obviously we had great racing yesterday with Terry Moore. Simon Hart, second in the championship had some engine issues so that took the pressure off me. Great racing with Terry was good. Then he blew his engine, all the oil went out. Not the way you want to win with people withdrawn but at the end of the day you’ve got to be in it to win it.”
Anything can happen – “We put it on pole in Belgium. I won two heats, Terry [Moore] won two. There was nothing between us. I got the start I got the lead. I really thought it was in the bag. Then the shockers got to 38 degrees and I had three out of four shockers seize on me. That was one of them moments that will stick with you for a long time. As soon as you get back they eased off. It was just circumstantial.”
Best moment – “I think my best moment was this morning. That car has been a different car each time I drove it. I rolled it last year and we re-shelled it. We did lots of things to it. It’s the first time I’ve got in the car and drove the same car we did yesterday. Any race with Terry Moore has been a fantastic race. We may rub paint but that’s as far as it gets.”
Issues – “I wasn’t very well in Belgium. When I was sat in the car I couldn’t feel a thing. When I was out of the car I had to lie down. When I’ve been running the championship the whole year am I going to say I’m going to pull out for an infection. If you cut my legs off I’d be there on the day.”
Effort to get racing – “It’s a massive effort. I used to run the Lucas-Oil KA. Paul Walden who built the KA was the only man who we knew was knowledgeable to help out. We asked him to do us a favour, he came to the first round. He loved it and he’s been with us all year. Our saving grace. Team Geriatic we got that top step of the podium this weekend.”
2023 – “There’s three trophies in retro. Represented which I won last year, Retro and Overall and I obviously want to get all three. BTRDA have a historic class and that’s something on the calendar. Something I got invited to last year was Rallycross Legends over in France. That is one I’d like to do.”
John Cross – Super Retro – Lancia Stratos
On being champion – “It feels good. My intention was do it in the first year with the car but maybe that was a bit too optimistic. Three years later we’re here. First of many.”
Anything can happen – “This year has been quite uneventful, I think the previous two years and missed I’ve had more mishaps. This year has been plain sailing.”
Best moment – “The memory of this year that will stick with me most will be Jos Sterkens trying to mount me behind in Belgium. Which didn’t seem anywhere near as bad in the car as looking at the pictures afterwards. Then carrying on that race to win was good.”
Issues – “Biggest problem we had prior to this year was driver train problems. Jemma and I have done a real good job sorting that out. The whole rear uprights have been redesigned. Touch wood this year we haven’t had a failure.”
Effort to get racing – “The business has been very small, there’s only four people because I’m trying to get myself semi-retired. They’ve all done a good job. Probably the one who’s kept most busy is the laminator who keeps repairing the back end. The whole team’s worked good, it’s been a good year.”
2023 – “To win it again. Next year I will be seventy so my aim is the be the first seventy year old rallycross champion. I aim to do BTRDA Rallycross and this one. This is the most competitive one.”
