BRITISH RALLYCROSS ACTION FROM LYDDEN HILL
Organiser: BARC/ LHRC When: April 2 Where: Lydden Hill Starters: 78
Three-time British Rally champion Mark Higgins scored victory in only his second rallycross Supercar start, dominating the final in the second round of the British Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill.
Following overnight rain, the day began on a greasy circuit and Higgins was one of several drivers to make a mistake in his Q1 race by running wide. He was still sixth fastest.
Fourth in Q2 and then fastest overall in Q3 lifted the Manxman to second in the Intermediate Classification, behind the consistent Ollie O’donovan.
Irishman O’donovan was then beaten to semi-final one victory by Oliver Bennett, while Higgins won semi-final two to net pole position for the final.
The forecasted rain held off until midafternoon, when the heavens opened in time for the six-lap final.
As the lights went green, Higgins made the best start and was chased by the returning Liam Doran, driving the Citroen C4 he previously raced in the 2011 European Rallycross Championship. Doran pressured Higgins on the opening lap, making a bid for the lead at Devil’s Elbow hairpin, but was forced to retire on lap two with broken steering following contact.
That promoted Julian Godfrey into second place. He was making his second appearance in Spencer Sport’s Mitsubishi Mirage RX. Having taken his joker at the first opportunity, O’donovan had climbed to third by the middle of the race, as conditions worsened. Fighting back from his slow start, Bennett swapped positions with the returning Jake Harris as the joker laps played out, while Welshman Mike Manning made the best of the conditions with his lesser-powered Subaru Impreza in sixth place.
Up front, Godfrey took his joker on lap five and returned to the main circuit just ahead of O’donovan’s Ford Focus, while the exuberantly Higgins took his joker on the final tour and maintained his advantage to claim his first win with the Albatec Racing team.
Godfrey held onto his points lead with second and O’donovan fought back from a difficult opening round with third. Steve Hill arrived at the event second in the points but retired from the final with a broken driveshaft.
Reigning Supernational champion Tristan Ovenden claimed victory at his home event, despite his Renault Clio V6 not suiting the wet conditions in the final and the Canterbury driver making a mistake early in the race. Driving a borrowed Vauxhall VX220 for the second event in a row, Paige Bellerby held off a hard-charging Craig Lomax in the closing stages of the race to finish second, with Super1600 racer Lomax in third.
Tom Constantine dominated the Junior final to score victory ahead of round one winner Marius Solberg Hansen and his cousin James Constantine.
Morgan Bailey claimed his first Swift Sport victory in the single-make category after a close race with reigning champion Simon Ovenden, while Chrissy Palmer won the RX150 final.
Former Junior champion Bradley Durdin won the BMW Mini final and Roger Thomas scored Retro Rallycross victory with his Metro 6R4, having spent the day double-driving with his Ford Focus in the Supercar category.
Results British Rallycross (6 laps) 1 Mark Higgins (Peugeot 208); 2 Julian Godfrey (Mitsubishi Mirage) +2.489s; 3 Ollie O’donovan (Ford Focus); 4 Jake Harris (Citroen DS3); 5 Oliver Bennett (Ford Fiesta); 6 Mike Manning (Subaru Impreza). Supernational Rallycross (6 laps) 1 Tristan Ovenden (Renault Clio); 2 Paige Bellerby (Vauxhall VX220) +2.784s; 3 Craig Lomax (Citroen C2); 4 Paul Coney (Vauxhall Corsa); 5 Guy Corner (Peugeot 206); 6 Darren Scott (Citroen C2). Junior Rallycross (6 laps) (All 1.3 Suzuki Swift) 1 Tom Constantine; 2 Marius Solberg Hansen +0.225s; 3 James Constantine; 4 Morgan Wroot; 5 Luke Constantine; 6 Matilda Procter. Suzuki Swift (6 laps) 1 Morgan Bailey; 2 Simon Ovenden +0.408s; 3 Ryan Hadfield; 4 Christopher Scott; 5 Max Weatherley; 6 Rob Maynard. RX150 (6 laps) 1 Chrissy Palmer; 2 Leo Forster (no time given); 3 Ulrik Linnemann; 4 Brett Harris; 5 John Ward; 6 Stephen Jones. BMW Mini Rallycross (6 laps) 1 Bradley Durdin; 2 Leigh-anne Sedgwick +0.384s; 3 Martin Hawkes; 4 David Bell; 5 Rob Methold; 6 Andrew Hawkes. Retro Rallycross (4 laps) 1 Roger Thomas (Metro 6R4); 2 James Harrold (VW Beetle) +16.111s; 3 Mark Finch (Ford Fiesta); 4 Ray Morgan (Ford Escort); 5 Gary Dixon (Vauxhall Astra); 6 Ian Biagi (Mini).