British Rallycross season review
Ace engineer made to work hard to restore himself to the top of the championship.
It is a mark of both Julian Godfrey’s consistency and speed that, while he hadn’t claimed a British RX title since 2015 heading into his ninth Supercar campaign this year, he had been in the title hunt until the end of the three most recent contests.
The East Sussex engineer and racer had taken the biggest prize in the first five years of his top-class tenure, but was beaten by young gun Dan Rooke in 2016. He then took another young charger, Nathan Heathcote, into a finalround decider the following campaign, before losing out to triple British Rally champion Mark Higgins in the final round 12 months later.
This time around, it was double European champion Derek Tohill who took up the fight for the British RX crown and, while he and Godfrey took four wins apiece across the campaign with little to choose between the pair, it was Godfrey that came out on top of a final round decider at Croft to take the title.
Godfrey claimed victory in the opening round of the campaign at Silverstone, driving the Spencer Sport-run Mitsubishi Mirage he’d raced in 2018. There, he beat an on-form Tohill for the win, with the Irish driver dipping his toe in the water for the opening events of the year and unsure about his commitment to a full campaign. It wasn’t until after the first visit of the year to Pembrey in June, by which time Tohill had a brace of wins under his belt, that he committed to fighting for the title.
The traditional August Bank Holiday Monday event at Lydden Hill would prove decisive in the title fight. Godfrey, who reverted to his own Ford Fiesta after the season-opener to save costs, set some career-best laps around the Kent circuit in qualifying, then fended off the attentions of a returning and quick Jack Thorne to win the final despite carrying steering damage. Tohill, on the other hand, dropped down the order on the opening lap of the final and only a hard-fought recovery got him back to the podium to remain in the title hunt.
The Irishman then won the next round at Pembrey, but Godfrey was second, meaning that while both drivers had appeared on the podium at every event, Tohill had a pair of thirds to Godfrey’s one.
In torrentially wet conditions on the opening day of the final round of the season at Croft, Godfrey scored victory despite losing anything above third gear from the middle of the final and breaking a camshaft in his engine on the closing laps.
His success was, in part, thanks to the horrendous conditions that made it difficult to get close to the car ahead, especially for Tohill in third, whose windscreen washer pipe had departed the washer jet on the opening tour.
Having been passed by Tony Bardy, the now four-time Irish rallycross champion was left to just manage the gap and survive to the end, frustrated by the outcome.
In the final round, Tohill, racing his Olsbergsmse-built Ford Fiesta, knew what he needed to do: victory was his only hope of claiming the title. And, with a dominant performance and a brilliant start in the final, he delivered. But a controlled second for Godfrey was enough to secure the Fiesta racer a sixth crown.
Steve Hill finished on the podium in the final round of the season with his Mitsubishi Evo to conclude a strong year. Third in the standings, he was a little way off the leading duo but a single podium from the campaign didn’t reward his step up in performance this year.
Bardy’s home podium, meanwhile, was well deserved after some time out of a Supercar.
At Croft he raced Ollie O’donovan’s Fiesta, the Irish driver having withdrawn from the series after round four, stating an inconsistency in stewarding decisions as the reason.
Roger Thomas missed the opening two rounds of the campaign while his M-sport built Ford Fiesta was given a full rebuild in Bardy’s workshops. He debuted the car at his home circuit, Pembrey, and improved his performances throughout the campaign while learning the new machine, resulting in a podium finish in the second visit to Pembrey.
Rallycross stalwart Andy Grant finished fourth in the points in his ex-will Gollop and Andrew Jordan
Ford Focus and previous champion Steve Mundy contested a selected campaign.
As the rate of development in technology at the front of the order increases, Simon Horton struggled to match the ultimate pace with his self-built Subaru Impreza on his return to the top-level in 2019. The Lancastrian continued to improve the car and at his favourite circuit, Croft, in performanceequalising conditions, he delivered his strongest showing of the season and twice finished fifth, matching his position in the overall standings.