Godfrey’s win crucial for title challenge
Organiser BARC/ LHMC Where: Pembrey, South Wales When: September 23 Starters: 54
The best launch from second on the grid propelled Julian Godfrey to the lead of the Supercar final in the penultimate round of the British Rallycross Championship at Pembrey.
Having made it into the left-hand first corner at the head of the pack, Godfrey led the race throughout to claim his third maximum points haul of the year and lifted himself right back into title condition with just one round of the series remaining.
Godfrey didn’t set a fastest time in qualifying however. It was three-time British Rally champion Mark Higgins who had been fastest in Q1 and Q2, before Ollie O’donovan set the best time in Q3, Higgins having been spun at the first corner after contact with O’donovan.
Manxman Higgins started on pole position for the final, but was beaten away from the line by Godfrey, using used slick tyres on the circuit that had transitioned from wet to dry over the day, and O’donovan, on new slicks in his outside grid slot.
While Godfrey made the best launch, O’donovan also edged ahead of Higgins into the first corner. The pair ran sideby-side before Higgins’ Albatec Racing Peugeot 208 was rotated around the front of O’donovan’s Fiesta in the braking area.
The moment dropped Higgins to fourth, as O’donovan’s Team RX Racing team-mate, Tony Bardy, climbed to third. In a bid to get his extra-route joker out of the way and leapfrog those ahead when they took theirs, Higgins was first to take his joker on the second lap. O’donovan responded from second by taking his joker on lap three, the Irishman maintaining track position.
Leader Godfrey and third-placed Bardy took their jokers on the fourth tour, Godfrey holding his lead, while Bardy dropped behind Higgins into fourth.
Steve Hill had dropped down the order on the opening lap due to a poor start but climbed back up to fifth by the finish, ahead of Subaru pair Liam Manning and Nigel Burke.
While each driver in the series can drop their two worst scores of the season, the final round at Silverstone in November must count towards the final tally. With the dropped scores considered, O’donovan leads the standings by four points from Godfrey, with Higgins just one point further back in third.
Tristan Ovenden won the Supernational class but such was the rate of attrition in the two-wheel-drive final that Paige Bellerby managed to finish third, despite twice spinning her Lotus, losing her front brakes and almost being lapped by the end. Jack Thorne was second.
Luke Constantine inherited the Junior class win when brother Tom ran into gearbox troubles mid-race, while Patrick O’donovan finished second. Simon Ovenden and David Bell claimed victory in the single-make Suzuki Swift and BMW Mini classes and Roger Thomas won the Retro category with his Metro 6R4.