Godfrey makes it a double at Croft to win the MSA British Rallycross Grand Prix
Julian Godfrey made it a double today at Croft in North Yorkshire, by adding the prestigious Procter’s Coaches MSA British Rallycross Grand Prix to his British title he won yesterday with a masterful drive.
He headed home the Peugeot 208 of Albatec Team boss Andy Scott, who became involved with a great battle for second with the Ford Focus of Ollie O’Donovan, who eventually came home third.
Fourth went to the Ford Focus of Andy Grant with Steve Hill bringing home his Mitsubishi Evo in fifth, and with one of the drives of the day, the Citroën AX of newly crowned SuperNational Champion Daniel Rooke in sixth. Steve Harris in the Citroën DS3 and Phil Chicken in the Citroën Super1600 rounded out the finishers in seventh and eighth.
Pat Doran suffered repeat Gearbox issues and did not finish, nor did the Ford KA of Gareth Wood.
Godfrey had been on pole, courtesy of a rake of fastest heat times, with Scott and O’Donovan joining him on the front row. The newly crowned British Champion took the lead of the Procters Coaches and was never headed over the six lap run final. Scott and O’Donovan then got involved in a great tussle for the runner up spot, which kept the large Croft crowd enthralled, with the duo getting very close on occasions.
Equally too, embroiled in battle were the Ford and Mitsubishi of Hill and Grant and they ran very close together throughout the final.
Daniel Rooke won the award for best Front Wheel drive on the day, and impressed everyone with his place in the final and took sixth.
At the finish Godfrey was delighted and said, “It has been the perfect end to our weekend, and I am really pleased to take the Grand Prix title again. The racing has been superb here and we are heading home very happy.” For Scott, it was a case of runner up once again for the Dumfries man, but he was content to take a good result and said “Yes, it would have been nice to win, but Julian drove well and I had a great battle with Ollie all the way to the flag.”
O’Donovan was content with third and said “The car has not been perfect all weekend, but today I was able to battle and enjoy it too, with Andy, so Yeah all in all not a bad day for us.”
Result Procters Coaches MSA British Rallycross Grand Prix
1 Julian Godfrey Ford Fiesta 4:22.100
2 Andy Scott Peugeot 208 4:26.034
3 Ollie O’Donovan Ford Focus 4:26.637
4 Andy Grant Ford Focus 4:31.930
5 Steve Hill Mitsubishi 4:33.611
6 Daniel Rooke Citroen AX 4:52.775
7 Steve Harris Citroen DS3 4:46.506
8 Phil Chicken Citroen S1600 4:59.170
9 Pat Doran Citroen DNF
10 Gareth Wood Ford Ka DNF
In the RX150 it was Andreas Bakkerud that took the win, and he headed home Dave Bellerby with former British Rally Champion Ryan Champion taking third.
It had been a good final, and Bakkerud was delighted to win and said at the finish “Its been great here at Croft all weekend, it has been so much fun. To win was good, and it was a great battle yesterday and today with Dave and Ryan.”
Asked if he would be seen in the British Rallycross championship in 2016 he said “For sure I would love to come back, it’s a great championship and lots of fun.”
For Bellerby it was a good result and he too was content with the weekend and said “Its been great for British Rallycross to have someone like Andreas here this weekend, and Reniss at Lydden and a lots of thanks has to go to Ollie for getting them to come. It has been good for the sport and the racing this weekend was spot on.”
For fellow Yorkshireman Champion, he too enjoyed the weekend and admitted that it was good to be back in the driving seat and said “What a really good weekend it has been, and third is a good result. There were a lot of spectators here today and I am sure they enjoyed the racing.
The award for best rear wheel drive went to Paige Bellerby in the Lotus, an award she was able to add to her victory in the SuperNational class which she won on Saturday.
The MSA Juniors was won by Jack Leese with Thomas Middleton finishing second.
The Retro Rallycross was won by Ray Morgan in the Ford Escort BDA, and he headed home Darren Grimston in the Vauxhall Nova with Dave Black third.
