Popped down to Lydden last Monday for the second round of the British Rallycross Championship. Despite the rather gloomy weather forecast, it was actually quite mild and the only heavy rain came during the last hour of the day.
Few of my favourite shots from the day:
As with the opening round Kevin Procter was one of the quickest drivers on track but, once again, his car let him down and he was out the event before lunchtime.
Julian Godfrey switched from his Fiesta to a Mitsubishi Mirage for Silverstone and he stayed with the Mirage for Lydden as well.
Roger Thomas drove both an Metro 6R4 in the Rero Rallycross…
…and a Focus in the Supercar class. I’m not jealous. Much.
It’s not often you see a Subaru in rallycross and even less often when you see one doing well. Mike Manning was out in his Impreza and, when he exited the first heat in a big cloud of smoke, I thought that would be the last we would see of the car…
…Manning was back for the third heat though and, after winning his race, he made it all the way to the final. Conditions obviously helped, but it was still a great bit of driving in what was basically a standard car.
Roger Thomas was easily the fastest retro car on track, but my fave car in the class at Lydden was the rather tidy looking Chevette of Steve Bowie.
After a year’s ban, Liam Doran made his competitive return to rallycross. On a single lap he was the quickest car on the track, but his impatience got the better of him during the final and an attempted pass on the leader resulted in a broken steering rack. No question that he is still bloody rapid behind the wheel though.
Most impressive drive of the day for me was Jake Harris. I thought Jake looked a bit lost in the Supercars last year, but he was very fast at Lydden and mixing it up with a lot of the more experienced drivers.
Ollie O’Donovan is always fast at Lydden and he finished the qualifying heats in first place.
Mark Higgins seemed to find more speed later in the day though, winning the third heat and his semi-final to take the pole spot in the final.
After fending off a lunge from Liam Doran, Higgins led the final from start to finish. It was a very tidy drive given the conditions and a well deserved win. Godfrey finished the final in second, giving him enough points to retain the Championship lead.
Excellent day of racing and, after freezing my nuts off in the snow at Silverstone, the rain actually seemed pretty pleasant!
Loads more pictures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/229616...57667645182798
If any of you want to see more!