Sun rises on new dawn

The sun is up and poking though the morning clouds here at Lydden Hill, for round one of the FIA European Rallycross Championship.

The teams are in place in the paddock, with the final touches being fettled on cars after a long winter of development and re-building.

With Easter being slightly earlier in the year, teams have been under more pressure than ever to complete cars before the now traditional season opener in England over Easter weekend.

Many teams have spent the last couple of weeks finishing cars and doing final shakedowns in France and Germany.

“We just did a few laps at Essay in France to check everything over” said Timmy Hansen, who starts his full time career move to rallycross this weekend. Hansen is one of the drivers who has recent experience of the circuit, having attended the European championship media and test day a month ago. He also raced in the recent British Championship event in the Swift Sport category to gain more experience of the circuit.

Skoda driver Peter Hedstrom also drove here at the media launch for the championship with his brand new Fabia II. The Hedstrom Motorsport outfit traveled to Lydden via Germany this week, to have a final test with the new car. “We had a few problems here at the test day, the car was only just finished the day before, but at least it happened then. Hopefully we won’t have any problems again” said a team spokesman. “We decided to shakedown in Germany because the weather is still not great at home.” He continued.

Heats one and two take place this afternoon, following practice which starts at 12.30 local time.

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