Doran adds Europe

Liam Doran will contest the European Rallycross Championship with a new Citroën DS3 Supercar. The Englishman made the surprise announcement that he will add the ERC season to his GRC and Pikes Peak campaign today. Doran and the DS3 will undertake press duties in connection with his appearance later this year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and with the Masters of Dirt fuelled by Monster Energy, before undertaking a test session with the new car in France and then giving it a debut race outing in the British championship opener at Lydden on March 24.

The new car has been built by Mtechnologies and will be run by the French team together with Autopoint Specialist Engineering boss Graham Rodemark who will team manage Doran in Europe and America this year. “I’ve put together the best team that I can possibly get,” said Doran. “Mtechnologies and Autopoint are top class and Julian Godfrey Engineering is doing my engines which means I will have an engine that performs as I want, as well as the backup from Julian who is excited by the Citroën engine; it’s the best he has ever worked with.”

Doran’s decision to chase the European title is a strong vote of confidence for the series at a time when some racers have favoured the US-based Global Rallycross Championship. “Some of the drivers who are going to America are being quite negative about the European championship but I don’t agree with them, it’s still massively important to race here and the ERC will be very competitive. The ones who are racing in America are not the ones who have been winning in Europe. Even if Sverre Isachsen is not in the ERC this year it doesn’t matter because the competition is going to be very tough. I don’t care if Isachsen goes to America, he’s chasing a dream but I’m racing to be best and he’s going to have to race me wherever he goes. I’m able to get the budget to do both championships and I can see the value in each one, but anyone who thinks Europe is going to be easy just because a couple of guys have gone to race in America is dreaming.”

Having set himself the personal goal of winning the European championship and the X Games, Doran has already made decisions about some of this year’s date clashes. “Doing X Games will mean I miss the Swedish ERC. Because of that I will skip the GRC opener at Charlotte and do the ERC round in Austria. The last rounds clash as well, but I can make the decision about which of those events to do later in the year; I’ve car for each series so that’s easy for me. It’s going to be good to race so much because time in the car is valuable and I’m going to be on the boil all year,” he said.

Doran’s new DS3 and the 2011 C4, also from Mtechnologies, are both transverse-engined cars and Doran is convinced that the setup is the way to go. “You could see the potential in the transverse cars last year, now the gearboxes are strong enough to handle the power it’s definitely the way forward,” he said.

Taken with his GRC, Pikes Peak and Off-Road Truck outings, the ERC campaign will make Doran the busiest driver in Rallycross.

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