Double Runners up spots for Albatec Racing
Albatec Racing brought its British Rallycross Championship campaign to a close clinching the vice-champion spot in both the Supercar and RX150 classes following an eventful final round at Croft this weekend. Andy Scott went into the event 12 points adrift of the series leader, knowing only a third victory of the season would realistically keep his hopes alive.
Second in Saturday’s opening heat behind an in-form Kevin Procter and champion-elect Julian Godfrey was a good start to the day’s proceedings, but there was drama aplenty in both heat two races. For Andy, contact on lap one with Andy Grant saw the Dumfries racer spinning off onto the grass, but a good recovery placed him third at the flag. For Godfrey, a suspected transmission failure saw him pull off into retirement, offering renewed hope for the Albatec Team Principal ahead of heat three.
In that Andy started from pole and after a false start saw the race aborted, he led away at the lights and was never headed, powering his 600bhp Peugeot 208 RX Supercar to a 14 second advantage to take the race win and a comfortable heat victory.
Lining up on the middle of the front row for the all-important Final, Andy got away third, passing Andy Grant on lap two to take second. Despite a spirited drive by the Team Principal, he was unable to make a move on the leader Procter, finishing second to secure the championship runner-up position just seven points behind.
In RX150, double and reigning champion Marc Scott continued his season-long battle with Chrissy Palmer, but ultimately the Lochmaben racer had to give best to his season-long rival in the final race of the year. Fifth after the opening heat after contact with Palmer saw him spinning onto the grass, Marc bounced back to take second in heat two, and third in the final heat to ensure the battle would really go down to the wire.
Starting from the outside of the front row for the Final, Marc made a good start to claim second, but could do nothing to catch Palmer ahead, leaving the Albatec racer to follow him home to the flag and miss out on a third crown by just a single point.
Sunday saw the North Yorkshire track host the prestigious MSA British Rallycross Grand Prix where all classes, with the exception of RX150s, Retro Rallycross and the Juniors, compete together for the coveted crown. Not content with contesting the Grand Prix in his two-litre, 16v 208, Andy also took the wheel of Marc’s buggy in the RX150 event.
Andy led the opening heat before a spin dropped him down the order. Recovering to take second in the two remaining heats, he lined up on the outside of the front row for the Final. A good start put him third but after running wide he made contact with Ryan Champion, whose buggy was subsequently left stranded on the track, forcing race stoppage. At the restart another good start saw Andy third off the line, before Champion moved ahead to claim the position, leaving Andy to take fourth at the finish.
The battle for the Supercar crown was even more eventful for Andy. A spirited drive across all three qualifying heats saw him consistently in among the action and in contention for the GP win.
In his opening heat he took third behind Godfrey and Procter, and in the second, third to Godfrey and O’Donovan. The final heat again saw a clean start by Andy to run second on the approach to turn one, before O’Donovan found a way past, demoting the Scot to third.
Their battle intensified on lap two, and resulted in contact, which dropped the Peugeot driver to sixth. Charging through the field, Andy moved up to fourth, and a terrific pass on Andy Grant on the last lap earnt third at the flag.
Starting on the front row for the ten-car, six lap Grand Prix, Andy made a good start to run second into turn one, before being squeezed out, dropping to third when O’Donovan took the place. A race-long scrap with the Irishman resulted in the pair swapping paint until the last lap, when Andy forced a way through and into second, securing the race fastest lap on the way.
Andy Scott, Albatec Racing Team Principal & Driver :
“I’m as happy as anyone can be finishing second, but hats off to Julian who drove a great weekend. My starts let me down really as I know I had good pace across the weekend and it was a close run at the finish, losing out by just seven points.
“It all got a bit desperate out there at times, which for the others is OK it’s their last race of the season, but for Albatec, well we’ve got the final round of Euro RX to get ready for next weekend, so it’s straight into re-prepping the cars for Jérôme and James in Franciacorta.”
Marc Scott, Albatec Racing driver :
“It was a pretty dismal day really and a massive disappointment to lose the championship by just one point. I had three pretty mediocre heats to be honest, I just didn’t seem to have my usual pace and as good a set-up as Chrissy’s, it was hard to keep right with him, never mind pass him. But that’s racing, you have to take the ups with the downs and overall it’s been another great year for rallycross.”
