Tohill tops in Ireland, Villeneuve in ARX Subaru for GP3R

22 July No real surprises at Mondello Park where Derek Tohill won the fourth round of the Irish Rallycross Championship. Unbeaten in the day, Tohill led home Gavin Smith, the former BTCC racer making his rallycross debut at the wheel of Noel Greene’s Mitsubishi Mirage. Declan Kelly (Fiesta) was the only other Supercar runner and placed third  to Tohill and Smith in both the Supercar final and the Superfinal. Best of the two wheel drive cars in the Superfinal was Pearse Browne (BMW Compact). Browne had earlier been third in the Modified final which was won by Peter McGarry (Vauxhall VX220) ahead of Willie Coyne (Vauxhall Corsa). Jack Byrne beat Christopher Grimes to win the Junior final.

27 July Jacques Villeneuve will return to rallycross for his ‘home’ event at Trois-Rivieres in Canada next weekend when he will race a Subaru Rally Team USA Impreza WRX in the Americas Rallycross section of the GP3R event. Villeneuve will join regular Subaru racers Patrik Sandell and Chris Atkinson in the US-team’s third car.

The 1997 F1 World Champion and ’95 Indy 500 winner has previous form in rallycross having driven in seven rounds of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship with Albatec Racing. “Trois-Rivieres has always felt like my motorsports home, so it’s once again a pleasure to be back. Rallycross has grown exponentially since I’ve last raced these amazing cars, so it’s good to be part of a sport on the rise. I am grateful for the opportunity to be racing a works Subaru and will do everything in my power to help the team in its Americas Rallycross endeavour,” said Villeneuve.