Wigan racer Tony Lynch suffered a rare weekend to forget after failing to finish the second round of the 2015 MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with the Shannon Group at Lydden Hill.

Westhoughton-based Tony headed into the event keen to build on a solid start to his season at Croft, where he took fourth place on the first outing in the Super National class for his Lucas Oil Team Geriatric MINI Cooper S.

Having worked on the set-up of the car following practice, Tony enjoyed a solid start to race day with the third quickest time in the opening heat, with his team then seeking to make furher improvements to the car for heat two.

While that led to improved handling, Tony would lose out to rivals with more power under the bonnet and could only post the fifth quickest time; leaving him with work to do in the final heat.

Showing the undoubted potential in the MINI, Tony battled hard to secure the second quickest time, which was good enough to not only qualify for the final, but to earn a place on the outside of the front row.

A good start to the race put Tony firmly in the mix but after light contact with one of his rivals, he was forced to slow with what at first seemed to be a puncture.

However, it quickly became clear that the damage to the car went beyond a flat tyre and having pulled off the circuit, Tony was able to see that the front left wheel rim had in fact split - making it impossible to go any further.

While that meant Tony made the long trip back home from Kent without any points to his name, he could at least console himself in the pace displayed on track ahead of the next stage of the team’s ongoing development progamme.

“It’s never nice when a weekend ends the way this one did, but unfortunately, it’s one of those things that you sometimes have to deal with in motorsport,” he said. “Although it wasn’t the easiest weekend, the boys worked hard to make improvements to the car and going into the final, there was the potential for us to pick up a strong result.

“If we’d only picked up a puncture then I would have struggled on to pick up some points but with the damage there was to the wheel, I’m surprised I managed to carry on for the short amount of time I did.

“We can’t let our heads drop though, and I have no doubt about the potential there is with the car as the season goes on. We’ve managed to remain competitive against cars with more power than we have, so when we are able to bring in our planned engine upgrades and can get our new gearbox fitted, we’re only going to get stronger.”

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