Wigan racer Tony Lynch will hope to maintain the impressive form he showed in the opening rounds of the season when the MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with the Shannon Group heads to Lydden Hill this weekend for the second event of the year.

Westhoughton-based Tony enjoyed a fine start to his assault on the Super National category at Croft earlier this month, just missing out on the podium positions at the wheel of his Lucas Oil Team Geriatric MINI Cooper S despite his car having been damaged in a clash in one of the earlier heats [pictured below].

A fourth place finish in the North East exceeded early season expectations for the team, which is embarking on the second phase on a long-term development programme with the MINI as it seeks to launch a bid for championship honours.

Further updates to the car had been expected in time for this weekend’s long trip south to Kent for the traditional Easter Weekend meeting, although those improvements were delayed as the team instead focused on repairing the damage sustained over the course of the Croft weekend.

In recent weeks, the team has worked late into the night to replace the rear beam and suspension on the car whilst also replacing a number of damaged panels to ensure the MINI once again looks pristine when it rolls off the trailer for the second meeting of the year.

Despite the delay to the development programme, Tony heads into the weekend optimistic about his chances, with his target being once again to secure safe passage to the final to maintain his solid placing in the early season standings.

“When we got back from Croft, we were able to fully evaluate the damage we picked up during the race weekend and the boys had a lot of work to do to get the car back to its best,” he said. “In the past few weeks they’ve burned the midnight oil a bit to get everything straightened out and to replace the damaged parts – all of which makes our result last time out seem even more impressive.

“Because of the work that needed to be done, and because of performance we displayed in the opening round, we elected to hold back a bit on some of the work we had planned and will go to Lydden Hill with the car in the same spec it was in for Croft.

“Lydden Hill is a circuit where we have always gone well in the past and it’s one that should suit the MINI, despite the fact we’ll still be down on power a bit compared to some of the other cars.

“As at round one, we’ll have to wait and see how exactly where we stand when the action gets underway, but if we can repeat our performance there and qualify for the final, then we can focus on trying to bring home another strong result.”

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