Knockhill’s return to British Rallycross has been postponed.
The second round of the British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy has been postponed. It was intended to be run on 26/27th September. Due to an imminent announcement by the Scottish Government the organisers decided to postpone the event with more advanced warning. Knockhill was last on the calendar back in 2014 and was set to return with Mondello and Valkenswaard. A revised 4 round calendar left the series with visits to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The opening round took place at Lydden Hill on the August Bank Holiday weekend which was won by Mark Donnelly.
It is currently unknown if the round will be able to be run later in the season. Other series such as the British Touring Car Championship have run post-lockdown at the Fife circuit with small numbers of spectators. The same cannot currently be said for Pembrey. Only 30 people may attend an event in Wales, no matter the size of the venue. Pembrey has been forced to cancel or postpone all their race meetings through till the end of September. The British Rallycross Championship is set to visit on October 17th/18th but this is looking increasingly unlikely. The final round in Ireland may be forced off after only 3 Irish based drivers made the trip to Lydden Hill. It would likely be a similar case for British Isles based competitors getting across the Irish Sea.
Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
One solution could be to return to Lydden Hill again before season’s close. The Kent track organises the series and has said they are able to host additional rounds. They have already applied for a permit to run a round in December for the Winter Rallycross Series. A county-wide lockdown prevented the Irish Rallycross Championship from holding their second round at Mondello in August. The series is now set to run its next event on October 4th. The BTRDA had their revised season opener at Pembrey postponed until November and instead ran their first round last weekend. Tristan Ovenden in his Super National Renault Clio won his class and the Superfinal. The series is set to visit Blyton Park in 2 weeks, though this circuit cannot host Supercar races. Knockhill will host the third round on 25th October unless that event is forced off as well.
Feature Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
