So after the long off season and with a brand new rallycross track to see, I was rather looking forward to my trip to Silverstone last weekend…
…but unfortunately the weather was also in attendance. And it wasn’t weather of the pleasant variety. Air temperature for the day was around -3 but, coupled with the wind, the wind chill was lower than -10 for most of the day. Consequently I didn’t take many pictures, so forgive the lack of variety!
Five times British Champion Julian Godfrey switched to a Spencer Sport run Mitsubishi Mirage for Silverstone. Godfrey is providing the engine for this car, so he is obviously keen to show it off!
Several World Championship teams, including Peugeot Sport and EKS, were using the opening British round for a spot of pre-season testing. Was a bit surreal to see Sebastien Loeb threading his way through the British Championship regulars.
Roger Thomas has bought the ex-Mark Flaherty Focus. He made the final on his first outing in the car which was pretty respectable given the company.
Ollie O’Donovan during the 30 seconds of sunshine we saw!
The World Championship drivers are all experienced when it comes to big jumps and some of them, particularly the Peugeot Sport cars, were getting massive air.
However some of the British guys didn’t fare so well, especially with the landings…
…most of them had it figured out by the end of the day though!
Initially down as a guest driver, Mark Higgins confirmed a full season of British Rallycross a few days before the opening round. I really hope he does well this year, as he is a great driver and has always struck me as a decent bloke as well.
Driver of the day had to be Jack Thorne. After getting clipped at the start of the Super National final and dropping to last position, Thorne drove like an absolute nutter and managed to take the win!
With the World Rallycross trio of Loeb, Timmy Hansen and Andreas Bakkerud locking out the podium spots, Julian Godfrey took fourth and maximum British Championship points.
As for Silverstone, the viewing for spectators was actually better than I was expecting. It's a very twisty circuit though and it seemed overly compact and slow, even when it dried out. I didn't think the Supercars really got a chance to stretch their legs. The track obviously had to drop into that area, but it seemed like there was unused space at the bottom end of the circuit (after the jump).
That said I would like to try the circuit again in better weather, so might give the second British Championship round there later this year a look!