Norway boost for O'Donovan ahead of Lydden Hill
Former MSA British Rallycross Champion Ollie O’Donovan finished fifth at the third round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship at Hell in Norway, and in the process became the first Irish driver ever to qualify for a Supercar final at European Championship level as the team heads to Lydden Hill this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2015 British Rallycross series.
On his first ever visit to the Hell circuit, O’Donovan arrived in Norway targeting qualification for the semi-finals. Throughout the weekend, that never looked in doubt as the Ford Fiesta Supercar driver set 12th, eighth, ninth and 12th in the four qualifying heats to be 10th overall at the Intermediate Classification.
Starting from the back row of the grid in semi-final two, O’Donovan made up a number of places on the first lap and finished third to make it onto the grid for the final. “Norway was probably one of the hardest races of my life. We were very happy to make the semi-final, it was a tough race and we were delighted to make the final. I sat on the start line in the semi and thought, ‘this is going to be mayhem’, either in the joker lap or on the main track in the first corner, so I was quite happy to be last man going into the turn one and to try and pick the best line through – and it worked,” said O’Donovan.
“I did a similar thing in the final - I left the line nice and easy, and found the gap I was looking for. At the end, we were unlucky not to be third - I was pushing hard in the race but [Jerome] Grosset-Janin pushed me wide and I lost two places. It would have been cracking to be on the podium, I would have loved it but it gives us a new target for the next events.”
O’Donovan’s best result to date moves him to eighth overall in the European Championship standings, despite being hampered by some engine setup issues on the opening day in Norway. “We had to work on the engine on the first day, Julian [Godfrey] worked hard on Saturday evening too and again on Sunday morning. It’s pretty close now. I think the car is getting quicker, certainly it was fit to make a final. That’s thanks to Tony [Bardy] and the boys, they did a cracking job as ever with the car.”
There’s no let-up for Yokohama-backed Team RX Racing, who are back in action this weekend at the seventh round of the MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with the Shannon Group at Lydden Hill. Just two weeks later, the penultimate round of the European Championship is held in Spain. “Realistically speaking, I can’t win the British Championship now. I’ve got to be careful and try to maintain third position. I enjoy the track at Lydden, and I’d love to win - I’ll be pushing hard to do that but I’m not going to be silly,” said O’Donovan. Mitsubishi driver Steve Hill will also be competing under the Team RX Racing banner at Lydden Hill in his Evo X Supercar.
Norway Euro RX Result
1 Tommy Rustad - Volkswagen Polo (#24)
2 Joni-Pekka Rajala - Saab 93 (#60)
3 Janis Baumanis - Peugeot 208 (#199)
4 Jerome Grosset-Janin - Peugeot 208 (#74)
5 Ollie O’Donovan - Ford Fiesta (#2)
6 Frode Holte - Hyundai i20 (#14)
