Sonzogni Italy’s first lady. O’Donovan takes second British crown.

5 November / Patrick O’Donovan win his second successive British Rallycross Championship with two wins over the final double-header weekend of the British season. The 5 Nations British RX series wrapped up at Lydden with a day-night race on Saturday and a second day of action on Sunday. O’Donovan shared fastest times in Saturday’s two heats with Liam Doran, returningh after an extended break in a Hyundai i20 , but then going out of the event in the semi finals. Mikko Ikonen won SF2 and then finished second in the final to SF1 winner O’Donovan. Sebastian Eriksson (Ford Focus) finished third ahead of Ollie O’Donovan and Janko Weiszt in his ex-GCK Megane. Round ten completed the series on Sunday, O’Donovan again fastest in H1 before losing H2 to Ikonen through a transmission breakage. At the end of the day O’Donovan recovered to win semi and final, Ikonen again second and Janko Weiszt this time coming through for third. The other classes in BRX raced one event across the two days, Slawomir Woloch (BMW M3) second qualifier in Supernational but staying the distance (and taking the class title) as returning top qualifier Paige Bellerby crashed her Lotus out of the final. Tyler McAlpin became the Junior champion with an unbeaten run through the final round, Dave Bellerby being similarly dominant in BMW Mini. Dan Swayland (Escort) won Retro Rallycross and Lee Wood took the SuperRetro class in his Mk2. Stephen Jones pipped top qualifier Nick Priddy to win the RX150 final, victories in the combined Swift Sport/All 4 Mini classes going to Chris O’Hara and Max Langlaid respectively.

5 November / Jenni Sonzogni became the first woman to win the Italian Rallycross Championship and a notably rare female overall winner of amixed gender championship. The winner of the RX5 class on both days, Sonzogni took the title in style. RX5 is the top class in Italy, where the Supercar class is small. Returning after a break, Gigi Galli used his Kia Rio to win the supercar class on both days, Maggiora running in reverse and standard directions over the weekend and, like Lydden, suffering heavy rain on Saturday. Roman Castoral also bagged two wins, the Sunday one achieved despite the loss of a rear wheel from his trusty Opel Astra. Valentino Ledda (Peugeot 208) became the first under 18-year-old to take an Italian title in the STC-1600 class, Lucas Scabbia (Peugeot 207) the +2000 champion. Daniel Catena became the champion in the Sport RX class with his remarkable Fiat 500 and the Kartcross victories were taken by Mauro Vicario (Speedcar) and Maicol Giacomotti (KC) who missed the first day of racing.

This weekend / The World RX season reaches its conclusion in Hong Kong where a city centre track will be used for a double-header event. Nitrocross returns to Phoenix where there have been changes and additions to the circuit previously used.

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