Mechanical issues wreck Bennett’s bid in Arizona

BRISTOL driver Oli Bennett endured a tough third round at the Nitro Rallycross in Arizona last weekend – the XITE Energy Racing Mini SX1 was beset with technical issues which prevented the Briton from chasing a podium.

Coming into Phoenix, Bennett felt confident recent improvements and evolutions to the four-wheel drive 550bhp Mini would be enough to power him to the front of the pack in the cutting-edge NRX series However, mechanical issues combined to cost him a place in the final race.

“This has been a tough one,” said Bennett. “We had fuel issues through Saturday. The team worked so hard on fuel pumps to get it sorted and just when we thought we were there, it stopped again.

“We got into the semi-final on Sunday, but then suffered a problem with the turbo’s wastegate, which robbed us of any power. On top of that, we had a damper fail as well. All in all, not the best weekend.”

Fortunately, the back-to-back nature of the NRX schedule means there’s little time for Bennett to dwell on the past. The XITE Energy Racing team is already heading west down Interstate 10, the road to Los Angeles. Stopping before Venice Beach, it’s San Bernardino for round four this weekend.

“We know we’ve got some work to do on the car,” said Bennett, “so the team is on its way and we’ll be working through the night to get these issues fixed.

“The frustration here is that we know we’ve got the pace to be right at the sharp end. We’ve had a bunch of minor issues last weekend, but we put those behind us and head to California looking forward to another flat-out weekend in this amazing series.”