Liam Doran held off stiff competition to win the second round of the 2020 British Rallycross Championship. Mark Donnelly was the highest placed British Rallycross driver in third and extends his championship lead.
For the first time since 2010 the British Rallycross Championship raced in the dark. The sun set just after qualifying ended and meant it was pitch black by the time of the final. Floodlights illuminated the circuit though visibility was still at a premium.
In the final Oliver Bennett from third place made the best start and slotted past the Team JC pair to lead. Doran held onto second while his teammate Enzo Ide was forced back to third. Ollie O’Donovan slotted in behind the guest entries in 4th place with Julian Godfrey right behind. Mark Donnelly led into the joker lap followed by Tristan Ovenden and Pat Doran. At the start of lap 2 Bennett ran wide at turn 1 then drift back onto the inside of the corner. After recovering from the grass he dropped to 4th behind O’Donovan. From there on out Liam went unchallenged with his teammate, Ide, the closest behind. Bennett was able to close on O’Donovan ahead only to cut the chicane and bounce across the grass. Once O’Donovan jokered he dropped behind Donnelly. Behind them Godfrey retired with a large amount of steam coming from his car.
Doran crossed the line to win in the car he raced last year. Behind him, teammate Ide recorded a podium at his first visit to the circuit. Bennett crossed the line third but was hit with a 30 second penalty for not taking his joker lap. That promoted Donnelly onto the podium. O’Donovan came home fourth with Ovenden and Pat Doran rounding out the top 6. Due to his penalty Bennett was classified 7th with Godfrey 2 laps down in 8th.
“I’m just generally happy to be driving that car, to be driving this track. Overall it’s been a good day.”
Liam Doran
Semi Final 1
Godfrey jumped the first start giving him a joker lap penalty. At the restart Doran took the lead from Godfrey with O’Donovan jokering into 5th place. Pat Doran was 3rd and John McGuinness was 4th with Mike Sellar in last after he had jokered. Doran was able to stretch his advantage out front while behind O’Donovan had to overtake teammate McGuinness. Once he passed McGuinness into the Devil’s Elbow he set about on Godfrey who was yet to serve his second alternate lap. When the GB1 car emerged from the joker lap O’Donovan took second place. On the final lap Godfrey closed in and was able to get alongside O’Donovan through Chessons. Side by side out of the corner they touched with Godfrey braking to avoid sliding onto the grass. They held position till the checkered flag giving O’Donovan 6 championship points. Behind them, Doran Snr held 4th ahead of Sellar and McGuinness to take the last spot in the final.
Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
Semi Final 2
From pole Ide took the lead. Ovenden looked to take 2nd around the outside of Bennett. However, the Mini driver was able to hold his position from the start and went about chasing the leader. That left Ovenden and Donnelly to joker together at the start with Ovenden able to get the upper hand through the tight technical section. The championship leader, Donnelly tried to dive up the inside of the Devil’s Elbow but backed out of the move. Instead he was able to power past Ovenden out of the hairpin. Once past the positions remained static throughout the race. Ide stretched his advantage to secure pole in the final. Steve Hill was absent from the second semi-final after being unable to fix his throttle sensor issue.
Points
Donnelly once again bagged maximum points and leads the championship on 28 points. O’Donovan has leap frogged Godfrey into 2nd with the drivers on 23 and 22 respectively. Thanks to consistent finishes Ovenden is next on 20 points. Qualifying 1 was due to run tonight but with a 6pm curfew this wasn’t possible. It means that Andreas Bakkerud will be able to race in every session as he was unable to race on Saturday night due to travel arrangements. Dom Flitney will also join the action for round 3 after being ruled out of the day’s racing.
Feature Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
