London-based Irishman Ollie O’Donovan won the seventh round of the MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with the Shannon Group at Lydden Hill, driving his Team RX Racing Ford Fiesta Supercar.

The 2007 British Rallycross Champion was fastest in the first heat of the day, before setting fourth and ninth times in the following two qualifying races to line up fourth on the grid for the A final. Despite starting on the second row, O’Donovan made a fantastic start to lead into the first corner.

On lap three, O’Donovan took his compulsory joker lap and dropped to second behind Kevin Procter, but re-took the lead on lap four when Procter took his joker. Having re-taken the lead, it wasn’t all plain sailing for O’Donovan in the closing stages of the race. The Ford Fiesta had picked up a puncture, and O’Donovan was forced to defend hard from Procter in the final two corners, but held on to win his second British Championship event of the season following his victory at Mondello Park in June.

“To win at Lydden is just fantastic. The competition has been really tough this weekend, which makes it even better. We haven’t had great luck this season in British Championship events, and it nearly went against us again in the final but we had done enough to hold on. The car has been brilliant, it’s still constantly improving and the boys did a great job to turn it around after racing in Norway the weekend before,” said the Yokohama-backed driver. “Lydden is the home of rallycross, if I could pick anywhere to win, that’s where it would be. We had a lot of family and guests with us this weekend who stood in the rain to give us great support, so it’s brilliant to repay them with a victory.”

Also racing under the Team RX Racing banner at Lydden Hill, Mitsubishi Evo driver Steve Hill finished seventh in the final. O’Donovan’s points haul means he is now 23 points behind leader Julian Godfrey and 11 points behind second place Andy Scott in the championship, after dropped scores are taken into account. With a maximum of 37 points available for the final round of the championship at Croft in October, everything’s to play for. “It’s still a long shot to win the championship after some not so good results earlier in the season, but that won’t stop us trying until the last corner of the last race,” said O’Donovan. “I’m loving driving the car and I think we can keep pushing forwards. All we can do at Croft is win, and then see what happens to the others.”

Prior to the final round of the MSA British Rallycross Championship, Team RX Racing will head to Barcelona, Spain, for the penultimate round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship, where O’Donovan currently lies eighth in the standings.

Lydden Hill Round Seven Result – Monday 31^st August

1 Ollie O’Donovan - Ford Fiesta (#2)

2 Kevin Procter – Ford Fiesta (#10)

3 Andy Scott – Peugeot 208 (#26)

4 Julian Godfrey – Ford Fiesta (#1)

5 Pat Doran – Citroen DS3 (#46)

6 Mark Flaherty – Ford Focus (#77)

7 Steve Hill – Mitsubishi Evo (#5)

8 Andy Grant – Ford Focus (#3)

MSA British Rallycross Championship after round 7/8

1 Julian Godfrey – Ford Fiesta – 231

2 Andy Scott – Peugeot 208 – 219

3 Ollie O’Donovan – Ford Fiesta – 204

4 Kevin Procter – Ford Fiesta – 193

5 Andy Grant – Ford Focus – 190

6 Steve Hill – Mitsubishi Evo – 147

7 Steve Mundy – Ford Focus – 117

8 Mad Mark – Citroen Xsara – 107

Full results for the MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with the Shannon Group can be found on the championship website: www.rallycrossbrx.com

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