Germany to Mondello Park for O'Donovan and Team RX Racing
Irish rallycross driver Ollie O’Donovan enjoyed a strong weekend at the second round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship at the Estering in Germany and finished in the semi-finals.
Driving his Team RX Racing Ford Fiesta Supercar, O’Donovan was consistently inside the top 12 through the heat stages and qualified in ninth position at the Intermediate Classification. The London-based Irishman made a series of great starts to set eighth, twelfth and seventh fastest times in heats one, three and four - a spin in heat two the only real blot on O’Donovan’s copybook all weekend.
A change in gear ratios after day one improved the Fiesta and O’Donovan was pleased to finish fifth in the first semi-final. “This was my first time at the Estering and I really loved the track. When I walked around it on Friday I was a little bit daunted by all the difficult corners and big walls, but when I got into it the track came to me really nicely. We had a little boost problem in the semi-final but I don’t think it cost us any places. I was 50 meters behind the next car but had I had full boost I just think I would have been a bit closer to him. I’m very happy with finishing fifth,” said O’Donovan, who now lies tenth overall in the European Championship standings.
“We made good starts again all weekend apart from in heat three where I just didn’t see the start lights. Tony [Bardy] and the boys changed the gear ratios and that was a really big help. On Saturday I was feathering the throttle to keep the engine running at the hairpin and in the joker lap, but it was a load better for Sunday. Julian Godfrey did a bit of mapping work, which helped us too. This was the first time for me in a European semi-final at my second European round so I’m very happy with that.”
Yokohama-backed Team RX Racing will be straight back in action at the fourth and fifth rounds of the MSA British Rallycross Championship at Mondello Park this weekend, where O’Donovan will run the new Fiesta in British competition for the first time. “The pressure is on for Mondello - my home race. I certainly need to try and get two wins to get my championship challenge on track. We had good pace in Germany so hopefully we can get ahead of Andy [Scott] and Julian [Godfrey] at Mondello. I think there are at least five people who could win but we will be trying very hard.”
Germany Result
1 Tommy Rustad – Volkswagen Polo (#24)
2 Jerome Grosset-Janin – Peugeot 208 (#74)
3 Fabien Pailler – Peugeot 208 (#20)
4 Jean Baptiste Dubourg – Citroen C4 (#87)
5 Joni-Pekka Rajala – Saab 93 (#60)
6 Jonathan Pailler – Peugeot 208 (#18)
7 Ole Christian Veiby – Volkswagen Polo (#52)
8 Frode Holte – Hyundai i20 (#14)
9 Ollie O’Donovan – Ford Fiesta (#2)
10 James Grint – Peugeot 208 (#27)
European Championship after round 2/5:
1 Jerome Grosst-Janin - Peugeot 208 - 55
2 Tommy Rustad - Volkswagen Polo - 53
3 Ole-Christian Veiby - Volkswagen Polo - 40
4 Jean-Baptiste Dubourg - Citroen C4 - 33
5 Joni-Pekka Rajala - Saab 93 - 32
6 Fabien Pailler – Peugeot 208 - 30
7 Frode Hole – Hyundai i20 – 30
8 Jonathan Pailler – Peugeot 208 - 25
9 Francois Duval – Ford Focus - 21
10 Ollie O’Donovan – Ford Fiesta - 14
