Ryan Lawford

We were shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the untimely death of driver and race engineer Ryan Lawford on January 7. The 26-year-old began his involvement in motor sport after getting to know neighbour Will Gollop as a teenager. Learning his craft with Gollop’s G-Tech team both with Gollop driving and later when Andrew Jordan took over the Focus Supercar, Lawford became an accomplished engineer and in the last few years had continued to work with Jordan and was part of the team that won the Independents series in the 2012 British Touring Car Championship.

His first taste of Rallycross as a driver came in the Stock Hatch Peugeot 205 that G-Tech ran and was initially intended to allow Lawford to experience what it was like to race. Immediately fast, Lawford soon became a regular competitor and was a front running Stock Hatch driver in 2007, ’08 and ’09, winning events and challenging for the championship before switching to the new Swift Sport Championship in 2010. A crash ended his season early, but Lawford continued to show his speed and ability in a racecar with impressive outings in Julian Godfrey’s Supernational Fiesta in 2011 and ’12. Opportunities to race were limited by his work as a race engineer, but Lawford had worked hard on securing a budget that would have allowed him to prioritise his own racing.

He has gone far too early but it was a privilege and an honour to have known this charming young man. We offer our condolences and best wishes to Ryan’s family and friends.

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