Jack Thorne put in a stellar drive to win on his return to rallycross. Ollie O’Donovan suffered from a poor series of results to lose the points lead to Derek Tohill who was the best championship runner all day.
At the start it was Derek Tohill who made the best start and took the lead into turn 1. Jack Thorne had to settle for second having started on pole. Roberts Vitols was in behind with Steve Hill, Tristan Ovenden and Hal Ridge all following closely. Ollie O’Donovan made a late decision to dive to the joker lap forcing his teammate Ridge to back out of the throttle. Godfrey was the only other driver to joker and lead O’Donovan through the longer section of the lap.
Ridge was the first to make a move trying to dive up the inside of Ovenden into the Devil’s Elbow. The pair ran side by side up the hill where Ridge put his car to the inside. They bumped as Ridge ran wide giving the position back to Ovenden.
At the start of lap 2 Thorne peeled off to the alternate route and came out ahead of Godfrey. He closed quickly on the top 3 who were yet to joker. Ovenden in third place was dropping back from the leaders and started to hold up Thorne. The Peugeot driver made the move into the hairpin a lap later. Tohill and Vitols responded by taking their joker laps straight away. It was not enough as Thorne came through into the lead. Godfrey didn’t manage to get past the pair and stayed in 4th place with O’Donovan behind in 5th.
Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
Come the checkered flag it was Thorne who won his first ever British Rallycross event. Tohill was the top championship runner and scored maximum points in the weekend. Vitols was third. Behind Ovenden was able to take 6th place with Ridge down in 7th. Steve Hill was the only other starter but retired with a flat tyre. The rough section at Chessons had caused his 4th puncture of the weekend and he elected to save the car.
Jack Thorne “Once we could get in clear air and push the lap times were consistent and quick. Got around [Tristan], put in another half lap and luckily it was enough.”
Ollie O’Donovan “I should have gone on the main track but I thought there was gonna be a big fight in the first corner.”
Semi-Finals
Thorne won his semi-final after controlling the race from start to finish. He led O’Donovan into turn 1 with Vitols slotting into 3rd. Mike Sellar was the only other driver not to joker leaving Hill the sole car to joker. O’Donovan covered off Hill on lap 2 but left himself vulnerable to Vitols. When the Latvian went on the alternate route he came out ahead of O’Donovan in 2nd.
Thorne stayed out front for the remainder of the race with Sellar dropping to last once he had jokered. This put the DS3 driver out of the final after having qualified and finished 6th yesterday.
Tohill held the inside line going to turn 1 forcing Godfrey to slot in behind. Ridge followed the pair closely and looked to dive up the inside into the Devil’s Elbow. However, he took to the grass and had to back off from the move.
Ovenden was ahead of Dom Flitney on the outside of Chessons and looked to close on the leaders. When Ridge jokered he came out behind Ovenden but the local driver wasn’t able to gain any more positions. Tohill held off Godfrey with Ridge in the last transfer spot in 4th. Flitney was 5th and failed to make the final for the second time this weekend.
Qualifying
Thorne topped qualifying for the second day in a row. He didn’t have it all his own way after Tohill won Q1 by 0.015 seconds. However, in Q2 he made the best start and beat Tohill on track. They tied on points but thanks to a better Q2 result he won qualifying. O’Donovan was third ahead of Godfrey, Hill and Ovenden. Godfrey suffered an issue with 4th gear that slowed the engine tuner through the day. Vitols could do no better than 7th after suffering a turbo failure on the way to the grid in Q2. He tried to finish the race but was lapped with only a couple hundred metres to the finish line. Had he finished he would have been elevated to 5th in the intermediate.
Ridge was 8th ahead of Sellar and Flitney brought up the rear. The Volvo driver was still getting used to his new car with suffered a rear wing failure in Q1. The car was running well despite that and will be back out at the next round. He had been receiving support from LD Motorsport just to run the car for the first time but it will be self run from now on.
Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
Points
Derek Tohill takes the championship lead for the first time this year. He sits on 173 with Ollie O’Donovan dropping to second on 171. Vitols and Godfrey are tied on 151 with Vitols ahead thanks to his 3 wins, compared to Godfrey’s 1. Ovenden is just 4 points back on the pair.
Derek Tohill “Could be 2 championships [British RX & Irish RX] done on the same day which would be mega.”
The final round is currently set to take place alongside the Irish Rallycross Championship at Mondello. It will take place on December 11th, 1 week after the original finale was planned. Only a few classes are planned to race with Supercars being joined by BMW Minis and All4 Minis. All other classes have been decided or competitors would prefer not the race or are unable to. All plans are subject to change and all competitors are aware that this may be the final championship standings.
Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
Feature Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
