South East Scoobies - World Rallycross Championship R2

It’s taken me a while to get these uploaded (I had quite a few photos to sift through!) but, finally, some pictures from the second round of the World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill.

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There were loads of UK drivers to cheer on including Championship regulars Andy Scott and Liam Doran…

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…current British Rallycross Championship Julian Godfrey…

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…and, making a special appearance for this weekend, current British Touring Car Champion Andrew Jordan who was at the wheel of an Olsbergs MSE Mk.8 Fiesta.

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The Supercar Championship was a bit of a DS3 fest last year, but there is a much bigger variety of cars in the paddock this year.

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There are still some DS3’s fielded by the top teams though. Petter Solberg is running a two car team for 2014, with his 2013 DS3 now in the hands of Alexander Hvaal…

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…whilst Petter is in a freshly built DS3.

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LD Motorsports also continue to run DS3’s in 2014.

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The RX Lites made their UK rallycross debut over the weekend. The Lites are identical space frame, rear engine, 4WD cars (ish). They look like a lot of fun and were close all weekend.

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There were a lot of cool cars to look at in the paddock, but there was one I had been looking forward to seeing more than any other…

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…the rebuild of Pat Doran’s RS200 has been teased quite a bit over the winter, this was the first time it had seen the light of day.

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It looked superb on track and Pat looked to be getting quicker but, during the second Group B session on Saturday, the RS200 caught fire. They had a hell of a struggle putting the fire out and, by the time they did, the back of the car was properly toasted. Gutted to watch the car burn, but at least the driver was safe.

The S1 quattro of Olle Arnesson was also out on track: the ride looked pretty, er, “firm” on the loose…

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:lol:

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Last year’s Touring Car Champion (Derek Tohill) has moved to Supercars, so the Touring Car Championship is wide open for 2014.

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It is the same situation in the Super 1600 category, with 2013 Champion Nitiss also moving to Supercars.

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Last year the Super 1600’s timesheets were topped with Renaults, but at Lydden the majority of the quickest cars were Skoda’s.

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Sergej Zagumennov was the winner of the Super 1600 final ahead of the orange Peugeot 208 of Ulrik Linnemann.

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Whilst Daniel Lundh held off Anders Braten to take the overall Touring Car win.

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Tanner Foust has won at Lydden in both 2012 and 2013, so he was back to make it three in a row. Unlike the last two years though, he was no longer in a Ford, having switched to Volkswagen during the winter.

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Petter Solberg was (predictably) spectacular all weekend. He made the final but ended up parked in the gravel after attempting a bonkers overtaking move on Tanner Foust.

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In true Solberg style he got himself out of the gravel and continued to drive round like a total lunatic, even though he had lost a hell of a lot of time.

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The Olsbergs MSE team were the dominant team of the weekend. Of the six cars that qualified for the final, three of them were OMSE Fords (Andreas Bakkerud, Reinis Nitiss and Andrew Jordan). Reinis Nitiss suffered an electrical failure prior to the start of the final, so his place was allocated Tanner Foust. Foust did his best, but his car had an issue (and Solberg piled into him as well), so he only managed fifth.

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It’s been seven years since Andrew Jordan raced a Supercar at Lydden, but it didn’t show, as he drove to third overall in the final. Brilliant driving and hopefully not the last time we see him in an OMSE Fiesta.

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Supercar victory went to Andreas Bakkerud. Bakkerud was lucky to escape contact with Toomas Heikkinen in the final, but he went on to take a well-deserved win in a very close final.

Overall it was a bloody fantastic weekend: I’ll be very surprised if I go to a better UK circuit event this year!