British championship at Pembrey

After Pat Doran took event wins in July and August, Julian Godfrey had seen his lead in the Monster Energy MSA British Rallycross Championship slashed to just three points. Going into Sunday’s penultimate round of the championship at Pembrey in South Wales, Godfrey knew that he needed a win to keep his hopes of a second title. In the event he did better than that, taking the A final win and adding the bonus points for fastest times in practice and the qualifying heats. Going into the final round at Croft in three weeks, Godfrey has stretched his lead to eight points.

Godfrey was head-to-head with title rival Doran throughout the event, Doran taking pole position for the A final but losing out there as his Citroën DS3 baulked on the grid and Godfrey shot into the lead. The start set the pattern for the race, Godfrey keeping his Fiesta ahead all the way, Doran chasing hard but never quite able to compensate for the ground lost at the start.

Behind the lead duo, Andy Grant ran third almost all day, while Gary Pusey and Simon Horton were evenly matched in their Subaru Imprezas, Horton the better of the pair entering the final, but Pusey then going ahead to place fourth ahead of Horton and Ireland-based Pole Greg Kalinecki who ran his Lancia Delta Integrale in the class to gain points in the event that also counted as the first round of this winter’s Irish championship.

Ash Simpson took his fourth Supernational win of the year and is the champion with a round in hand while James Ross secured the Junior title with his fourth event win. Nick Priddy gave his new Super1600 Suzuki Swift its second win in as many starts while the points lead in the Swift Sport Championship changed hands, Chris Mullen going ahead after finishing second to Tristan Ovenden who became the sixth different driver to win in the championship this year.