O’DONOVAN JUNIOR TO SWITCH TO RALLYCROSS

Son of former british champion ollie signs up for junior bid

Fourteen-year old Patrick O’donovan, son of former British Rallycross champion Ollie O’donovan, will make his rallycross debut in the MSA Junior Rallycross Championship at Croft next week.

O’donovan Jr, who has previously competed in selected autograss events, was forced to miss the opening two rounds of the 2018 season until he had turned 14 years old, the category’s minimum age. He will make his maiden rallycross appearance in the third round driving a single-make 1300cc Suzuki Swift overseen by the Autopoint Specialist Engineering team that led Swede Kevin Hansen to the Junior RX title in 2013.

“I’m really looking forward to Croft,” said O’donovan Jr. “I’ve done quite lot of driving in different cars at home on the farm, but I’m not too sure what to expect when I start in rallycross. I’ve heard quite a lot from Tom Constantine [Junior RX frontrunner] that it’s quite similar to autograss racing when the tracks are wet, but I’m not too sure how I’m going to do on the dry gravel and Tarmac to start with because I’ve not raced on that before. I actually just can’t wait to get started.”

Norwegian Marius Solberg Hansen won the Junior season-opener at Silverstone while Constantine won round two. O’donovan will join another Supercar driver’s offspring competing in Junior RX this year, Matilda Procter, daughter of multiple British RX event winner Kevin.

O’donovan’s father, Ollie said: “We’re very fortunate to have Graham Rodemark [Autopoint SE owner and engineer] involved in the project, who I know can produce great young drivers and frontrunning cars. Patrick’s done quite a bit of driving at home but racing in rallycross is new for him so there is absolutely no pressure or expectation from us, I want him to go out there and enjoy it. If he does, I think he can do well.”