O’DONOVAN DOES IT THE HARD WAY
British Rallycross Championship leader Patrick O’Donovan’s hopes of repeating his double victory at Pembrey in May took a hit in Q2 of round seven of the series last Saturday, when Turn 1 contact resulted in a broken driveshaft and a Turn 2 spin.
He was forced to start at the back of the field for his semi-final and had to fight back to claim victory. In the final, however, he was dominant. He led from the front of the order to claim a fourth victory of the campaign.
Having netted one win in the double-header weekend, and with the circuit reversed to run in a clockwise direction for round eight on Sunday, O’Donovan made it to the finish of his Q1 race with the fastest time despite breaking the gear lever in his Team RX Racing Ford Fiesta.
With assistance from other teams, the car was fixed just in time for Q2. Having claimed the top qualifier position with fastest time in the second session, 18-year-old O’Donovan won the first semi-final from the front to again secure pole position for the final.
In the main event he led throughout, only conceding the lead when he took his joker on the penultimate tour. Reigning RX150 champion O’Donovan had used the same tactic 24 hours earlier, losing the lead for a lap to a returning Nathan Heathcote before retaking the advantage when the latter also took his extra route.
On Sunday, it was titlecontender Julian Godfrey who moved into first position when O’Donovan jokered but when ace engineer Godfrey took his extra tour on the outside of the loose surface section on lap six, O’Donovan retook the lead to drive to another victory.
Godfrey had finished third behind Heathcote’s Citroen C4 on Saturday, but remained in the title hunt with second place on Sunday. It was a worse outcome on the second day for Heathcote though: the 2017 champion was forced to retire on the opening lap of Sunday’s final having received contact to his car’s leftrear wheel in the first corner.
Third went the way of Ollie O’Donovan, which was his second rostrum appearance of the season and the second time he had joined his son on the podium. He was again racing his squad’s Ford Focus instead of the new Proton Iriz RX and the 2007 champion climbed from the back of the grid in the final.
As he had in the May doubleheader in South Wales, reigning champion Derek Tohill endured a difficult weekend. He came off worse in a number of on-track battles and didn’t make the final on Saturday due to contact in the semi-final breaking his Fiesta’s left-rear suspension, while he did make the final in round eight on Sunday, he finished fifth behind round-five winner Tristan Ovenden. Ovenden also had a weekend to forget, his podium hopes on Saturday having ended with a broken intercooler after contact at the first corner.
Results
Organiser: LHMC When: August 27-28 Where: Pembrey Circuit Starters: 59 5 Nations BRX, Round 7:
1 Patrick O’Donovan (Ford Fiesta) 3m52.592s; 2 Nathan Heathcote (Citroen C4) +1.052s; 3 Julian Godfrey (Ford Fiesta); 4 Michael Sellar (Citroen DS3); 5 Steve Hill (Mitsubishi Evo); 6 Bradley Westgarth (Mitsubishi Evo). Supernational: Darren Bleasdale (Vauxhall VX220); Junior: Will Ovenden (Suzuki Swift); Swift Sport: Max Weatherley (Suzuki Swift); BMW Mini: David Bellerby (BMW Mini); ALL4 Mini: Edward Stallard (BMW Mini); Super Retro: John Cross (Lancia Stratos); Retro Rallycross: Tony Lynch (Toyota MR2); RX150: Jann Mardenborough (RX150).
5 Nations BRX, Round 8: 1 P O’Donovan 4m00.924s; 2 Godfrey +1.465s; 3 Ollie O’Donovan (Ford Focus); 4 Tristan Ovenden (Citroen DS3); 5 Derek Tohill (Ford Fiesta); 6 Hill. Supernational: Jason Bleasdale (Vauxhall VX220); Junior: Ovenden; Swift Sport: Weatherley; BMW Mini: Bellerby; ALL4 Mini: David Bell (BMW Mini); Super Retro: Allan Tapscott (Ford Escort); Retro Rallycross: Tony Lynch (Toyota MR2);
RX150: Mardenborough.