Kentish Express Ashford & District
Champion to step up
TITLE WINNER HEATHCOTE KEEN TO MOVE TO SUPERCAR CLASS NEXT SEASON
Pluckley teenager Nathan Heathcote hopes to graduate to the British Rallycross Championship’s Supercar class next season after winning his first title at the weekend.
The 19-year-old claimed the one-make Swift Sport Rallycross Championship crown at Croft on Saturday, winning every race he started.
He now plans to step up to the championship’s headlining class for 2017, switching from a twowheel-drive Suzuki Swift to a fourwheel-drive, 600bhp Supercar.
Heathcote said: “I love the Swift championship and everyone is great in it but you look at the other cars and you want to be going quicker.
“Supercars are a hell of a lot of money but I have got some good people around me and the right contacts.
“If anyone could do it, I could – that is the main thing I am looking at for next year.”
Heathcote first tried rallycross in 2014 before beating Canterbury’s Simon Ovenden to the Swift title by 23 points this year.
The former karter watched teenage sensation Dan Rooke claim the Supercar title this season, stepping up from a two-wheel-drive Citroen AX he raced in 2015.
He now hopes to emulate the Devon-based 18-year-old, saying: “Seeing how well Dan Rooke has done this year makes you want to do it even more. I need to sort a couple of tests out in a Supercar now and see where we can go.
“Everyone says do you want to be the next Lewis Hamilton but rallycross is where I want to be – the sport is growing a lot.
“I am over the moon to win the Swift championship.”
Heathcote scored four event victories aboard his 1.6-litre Swift, racing for the Hailsham-based Autopoint Specialist Engineering team led by engineer Graham Rodemark.
He added: “Graham is supportive and wants to see me in Supercars if I can do it.
“He said they would stick with me if I move up, which would be great – they are the best mechanics you could have.
“Winning the British championship is 100% my next aim.”
The 2017 MSA British Rallycross Championship will start at Croft in Yorkshire on March 19, before visiting Lydden Hill on Easter Monday and August Bank Holiday Monday.