One of the most competitive Supercar line-ups in recent history opens the 2025 Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy at the traditional Lydden Hill Easter Bank Holiday season-opener this weekend.

Eight event-winners and four former champions headline the Supercar roster for the first weekend in a new-look season that visits England (Lydden Hill), Ireland (Mondello Park), Wales (Pembrey Circuit) and France (Loheac) within an 11-round campaign for the Supercar runners, headed by reigning and three-time champion Patrick O’Donovan.

Not only did O’Donovan secure a third straight 5 Nations BRX crown in 2024, but he also became the first British driver in two decades to net an FIA European Rallycross Championship crown, and it’s the 21-year-old who will be the driver to beat from the opening round.

But, when O’Donovan missed the final weekend of the series last November, it was Xite Racing’s Oliver Bennett who set a new lap record on the Lydden Hill rallycross layout en route to final-round victory, while 2024 debutant Ian Barrett also secured a position on the top step in the final weekend of the year in his Tony Bardy Motorsport-run, ex-Johan Kristoffersson Volkswagen Polo and both will have eyes on the top step from the opening round of the campaign.

Six-time Champion Julian Godfrey is a stalwart of the 5 Nations BRX series and is back for more this year, indeed having aligned with former previous event-winner Tristan Ovenden with their Citroen DS3s to contest the new Teams’ Championship under the JGE Team Goody Rallycross Banner.

Another former title-winner, Derek Tohill, who scooped the crown in 2021, is also a double FIA European Rallycross Champion and eight-time Irish Rallycross title-winner. He returns to 5 Nations BRX this weekend having only contested joint rounds with the Irish Championship in recent seasons with his PFCRX team.

The 2007 Champion, Ollie O’Donovan, returns to partner his son Patrick in the Team RX Racing line-up, the pair having secured the Teams’ Championship for the previous two seasons, but O’Donovan Snr will miss the second weekend at Mondello Park due to a clashing commitment with the Loheac Legends Festival.

Run by experienced Irish squad Murray Motorsport, John McCluskey is a former British rallycross event-winner and has aligned for the 2025 campaign under the MMS RX TEAM IRL banner with New York-based rally and rallycross driver Gary Donoghue, with a pair of Ford Fiestas.

Former double Motorsport UK Junior Rallycross Champion Max Langmaid steps up to Supercar with an evolved version of the All4 Mini he has campaign in recent years, while Mike Sellar starts his second campaign in a Volkswagen Polo, having made his Supercar bow in 2020.

On the back of the strongest season of his career, Colin Anson will continue to field the Spencer Sport-built Mitsubishi Mirage he switched to the for 2024 season.

In the Junior division, returning drivers Cayden Harris and Teddie MacPherson will start the new season as favourites as the top performing returning drivers from the previous campaign, but will face known quantities and new challenges in the single-make class for 1300cc Suzuki Swifts as Pheobe Cake and Harrison Folley return, while Tommy Brown and William Hands join the field for the first time.

New for 2025 is the Motorsport UK-sanctioned Cross Car Championship, in which reigning 5 Nations BRX Cross Car champion Max Weatherly will begin his single-seater title defence at his local circuit this weekend. Former Junior racers Will Ovenden, Benjamin Bartlett and James Constantine have stepped into the category, while Bradley Turner has also switched classes to drive a single-seater machine. They will take on more experienced Cross Car racers in the shape of Jack Newman, Richard Rees and David Kane, while Kyandro van de Vivere travels to the event from Belgium, and Stephen Jones joins the grid within the RX150 Rallycross Championship.

Matt Cake stunned regulars in the Swift Sport Rallycross Championship in the final weekend of 2024 with a brilliant performance, and returns in the tightly-controlled single-make category, joined by newcomers Philip Seath and Samuel Petersen, and Supercar regular Steve Harris for the opening weekend.

But, it’s in the Retro Rallycross Championship where the biggest grids will feature this weekend, with an eclectic range of cars and drivers celebrating the rich history of the sport. Reigning champion Charlie French leads the Super Retro runners into the opening rounds, joined in the field by former champions like Lee Wood (Ford Escort), Ray Morgan (Ford Escort), John Cross (Lancia Stratos) and Gary Simpson (BMW M3), while four-time British Rallycross (Supercar) Champion Pat Doran made his Retro RX bow last year and was a title-contender. Fellow Devon-based former Supercar runner Andy Grant will also switch codes for this weekend with a Ford Escort. The Retro Rallycross category for up to 1600cc machines boasts its strongest field for some time, led by reigning champion Dan Swayland (Ford Escort), as regular drivers are joined by newcomers Jon Wood (Ford Escort), Ian Halfhide (Peugeot 205) and Joe Luke-Eastwood (MG Metro).

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