Seven days in rallycross, October 23

Not the busiest week ever, but plenty of variety with rallycross events in Britain and Ireland as well as the NGK Masters in Sweden which pulled a star-studded field to Karlstad.

The final round of the British Rallycross Championship took place at Croft, the weekend also featuring the British Rallycross Grand Prix. Ollie O’Donovan won the last round of the national championship but in the GP it was British champion Julian Godfrey who stayed the course and came through to take the win after finishing second to O’Donovan in the first day. Rising star Jack Thorne won Super1600 in the BRC final and took the class championship before going on to place sixth overall in the GP. Returning racer Mark Flaherty had a good event as he got back into the groove and placed third in the GP – 20 years after he last raced in such an event – Steve Hill placing second with his Mitsubishi Lancer. A week after his World RX debut, Marc Scott was back in his regular RX150 and took the class win.

The Irish Rallycross Championship recommenced at Mondello Park where Thomas O’Rafferty took victory in the Superfinal with his Ford Fiesta Supercar. Pearse Browne (BMW Compact) and Tommy Graham (Escort MkII) were able to take the fight to O’Rafferty as the lead Fiesta struggled was slowed with electrical problems. Declan Kelly (Fiesta) had been second to O’Rafferty in the Supercar A final and then placed fourth in the Superfinal, chased home by Lloyd Spendlove who had been down the field in the Supernational A final but had a better run in the last race of the day. Eoin Murray (Peugeot 106) won the Stock Hatch 16v A final while the eight-vavlve version was won by Noel O’Brien (Peugeot 205). Paul Doyle won the Honda Civic category and best of the Junior racers was Dillon Leonard (Starlet).

The tenth running of the NGK Masters event was won by Tobias Svard (Saab 900) who was best of 94 finishers in the mens event and beat Sebastian Eriksson (Opel) and Daniel wall (Volvo) in the final. Urban Bergstrom (Volvo) placed fourth, ahead of B final winner Reine Kyrk (Saab). The results list is like a who’s who of Swedish rallycross; Timmy Hansen in 22nd place, Ramona Karlsson 25th, Kevin Eriksson 27th, Pontus Tidemand 29th, Peter Hedstrom 49th, Daniel Lundh 62nd, Johan Kristoffersson 84th. The ladies event was won by Sandra Hultgren (Citroen C5) who led home Marinette Andersson (Saab) and Jennika Jennerfors (Mazda) in afield of 30 cars. Joel Olsson (Saab) won the Junior event ahead of Linus Leander (Opel) and Rasmus Nilsson (Saab). Further down the order in the 35-strong category Kevin Hansen placed 15th and Oliver Eriksson 20th, each having a troubled run in the event. Roland Borjesson won the veterans race. There’s video of the event here and here.

To go back a week, you can see highlights of the final round of the French Rallycross Championship below.

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vimks20_i4o[/tube]

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