Seven days, October 24

The final round of the British Rallycross Championship was paired with the British Rallycross Grand Prix, the two events taking place at Croft last weekend. Julian Godfrey had already wrapped up the British crown, the engine specialist sealed his third straight domestic championship last month but went to Croft with an eye on adding to his winning tally for the year. The day, however, belonged to Andy Scott who brought his Peugeot 208 for a national outing and, with suspension revisions appearing to work well, enjoyed a great day and gave the new car its first event victory. Home favourite Kevin Procter (Focus) placed second with Scott’s son Marc third at the end of a magnificent Supercar debut. Given his shot at the big league in his father’s Peugeot 306 as reward for winning the British championship’s RX150 class, Scott Jnr. made the step up with great confidence and drove the car with maturity to land a fine result on a day when conditions made easy to slip up. Godfrey ended up fourth, his worst result of the season, having slowed down in the final after the splitter on his Fiesta came loose.

In the following day’s Grand Prix, Godfrey was back in fine form and secured pole position in the first two heats, then sitting out the third to conserve tyres in a day of changeable weather conditions. Procter led the third heat and started with Godfrey on the front row, but it was again Scott who led when the lights went green. Procter went outside of Pat Doran’s DS3 between the first and second corners to grab second place and then pressure Scott. Three laps in, Scott was a little wide on the gravel section and Procter made his move, taking the lead and then easing away for a clear win as Scott recovered from a wide run in the last corner to fend off Doran. Godfrey was slow from the starting line and, never able to get back into contention, placed fourth ahead of Scott Jnr. and Andy Grant. In what looks like being his last rallycross event, prolific Supernational event winner Ash Simpson won easily with his Lotus on Saturday and then made his way to the Grand Prix A final on Sunday, clearly the best two-wheel drive car in the field. Watch the final from onboard Godfrey’s Fiesta in our exclusive video below

While the British championship reached its conclusion, the Irish championship picked up where it left off at the start of the summer, round six of the eight-event series beginning the winter season at Mondello Park. John Kelly (Mitsubishi Lancer E7) won the event, beating pole qualifier Andrew Morris’ Subaru Impreza in the final and closing the gap to his title rival to just two points. Lotus driver Ian O’Connell won the Supernational class, leading home the Fiesta of younger brother Gavin. Saloon racer Eoin Murray returned to rallycross action and won the 16v Stock Hatch class with his Citroen Saxo.

One of the most egalitarian societies in the world, Norway is pushing hard to increase female participation in motor sport. At this weekend’s Oslo Motorshow the Norwegian ASN is launching its ‘Jenter i Farta’ (Girls in Speed) programme. With rallycross attracting a good number of female competitors in Norway – eight of the 14 points scorers in the 2013 Junior championship were girls – rallycross females have been called in to do their part. Among the other key attractions at the Oslo show is RallycrossRX star Petter Solberg who has barely stopped for breath in his hectic promotional activities since the race season ended.

Elsewhere, the FIA European Rallycross Championship has been shortlisted among candidates for ‘European Race Series of the Year’ in the upcoming Professional Motor Sport World Expo awards that will take place in Cologne next month.

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q20f1lcKT4&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL-v_oxKAKvp5IrtEoLxAIu90d9N2UH85_[/tube]

[portfolio_slideshow]