A weekend trip to Hell beckons for Team RX Racing
Irish rallycross driver Ollie O’Donovan will contest the third round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship at Hell in Norway this weekend, driving the Team RX Racing Ford Fiesta Supercar.
At the second round of the European Rallycross Championship in Germany, 2007 British Rallycross Champion O’Donovan made the semi-finals and is targeting a similar result in Norway. However, the London-based Irishman knows that he will face stiff opposition from the 23 other entrants in the European Supercar category. “In Germany we made it into the semi-finals and that is certainly the target again this weekend. The entry is really strong, but I think together with Tony [Bardy] and the boys, we are strong enough to get there. Once you are into the semi-finals, it really could be anybody’s race, so we need to keep out of trouble and you never know, if we could make it to the final with a bit of Irish luck on our side. That would be brilliant,” said O’Donovan, who currently lies 10th overall in the Euro RX standings.
The team have experienced mixed fortunes since the second round of the Euro RX championship. O’Donovan won the fifth round of the MSA British Rallycross Championship at Mondello Park in Ireland, but suffered a puncture in round six of the series and just missed out on a podium finish. Since Pembrey last month, Tony Bardy Motorsport has been working to improve the Fiesta Supercar.
“I’ve never been to the track in Hell before, but from what I’ve seen it looks a lot of fun. The tracks with big undulation changes like that always make it more interesting to race on, especially for someone like me with a background in rallying,” said O’Donovan. “Even though we didn’t get the result we wanted at Pembrey, we’ve been working on the development of the car at every event this season and it’s been improving all the time. I’m much more used to it now, and we’ve got a new engine for Norway, which should give us an extra boost. I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car,” said the former rally driver.
A full entry list for the Hell event and information on where to watch the FIA World and European Rallycross Championships can be found on the championship website : www.rallycrossrx.com
European Championship after round 2/5:
1 Jerome Grosset-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