DO RAN TO CHASE AMERICAN CROWN AFTER PODIUM JOY
British rally cross star kicks off campaign with a top-three finish
Former European rallycross race winner Liam Doran says his podium finish in the opening round of the Americas Rallycross Championship at Silverstone on his return to international competition feels almost better than his first ever top-level victory in 2010. Doran raced a Citroen DS 3 freshly-rebuilt by his LD Motorsports team at Silverstone but missed Friday practice due to the car not being finished. The two-time X Games gold medal winner also encountered a number of technical issues in the qualifying stages of the event, which were rectified in time for the semi-finals where he finished second.
In the final, Doran passed Andretti Volkswagen driver Scott Speed on the opening lap and later finished on the podium after Timo Scheider crashed out.
“We solved a lot of the problems on Saturday night, but on a slippery track in Q4 I drove like a complete rookie,” Doran told MN. “I sat down, had a word with myself and went into the semis feeling like we had no excuses. I drove as well as I could with not having driven properly for two years, but the car worked great and we got a podium believe it or not. To me this feels like my first ever win all over again, or even better, because it’s it been so long and we’ve worked so hard. The battle with Speed for the first lap was probably the best battle I’ve ever had, we didn’t give an inch.”
The former full-time World RX competitor, who was one of the first European rallycross drivers to race in America, says he will work on a plan to contest the three remaining ARX rounds this season at COTA in July and together with World RX in Canada and COTA in August and September.