Patrick O’Donovan was confirmed as the winner of Round 5 of the 5 Nations British Rallycross Championship after the schedule was amended due to the ongoing issues with the World Rallycross Championship RX1e at Lydden Hill. The intermediate classification was used to work out the standings with O’Donovan top having won all three qualifying sessions.
In each of the heats, O’Donovan dominated despite some contact at the start in Q2. There, second overall Jack Thorne made slight contact with the GB1 driver off the line. Oliver Bennett tried to sweep around the outside of both but instead swung across the pair after brushing Thorne. It ended with Bennett in the barrier and down in sixth overall. Guest driver Rene Munnich claimed three top-five times and ended third overall.
Championship hopeful Julian Godfrey was next best but will score crucial third-place points. Another guest driver took fifth, with Shane Murphy racing in his second-ever rallycross meeting. Roger Thomas had a quiet day to slot into seventh. Dom Flitney showed great pace leading most of his race in Q2 before a slight mistake in the joker lap. Both he and Ollie O’Donovan suffered front left punctures in Q3 which dropped them down the order to eighth and ninth overall.
Steve Hill recovered from contact in Q1 to sit tenth at the end of the day. Jake Harris in the all electric Mini Countryman spun and Hill couldn’t avoid the incident. Harris was left stranded and had to skip Q2 before suffering a puncture in Q3. It left him down in sixteenth. Worse was for championship leader Tristan Ovenden. An engine failure in practice saw him retire from the day’s racing. Overnight the team have fixed the car and are hoping to challenge at the front.
The main event for the World Championship RX1e series will not race at Lydden Hill it was announced. On Friday a fire broke out in the Special ONE Racing area and destroyed both their cars and all their equipment. Due to uncertainty as to the cause of the fire, no Kreisel-powered cars are allowed to charge or race. After this news was made public the British RX series stated their event would become a double header with the round five classification taken after the first three qualifying heats. Sunday would become round six with two heats, semi-finals and final to be run. With the addition of a round, all competitors will be allowed to drop one further score from the championship. RX2e continues to race as expected across the weekend.
