London-based Irishman Ollie O’Donovan debuted his brand new Ford Fiesta Supercar at the opening round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship at Mettet in Belgium last weekend, and scored a heat race victory on his way to 13th overall.

The former MSA British Rallycross Champion drove the new Shannon Group backed Tony Bardy Motorsport car for the first time in the Saturday morning practice sessions and despite a string a of improving heat times, just missed out on a place in the semi-finals. The Team RX Racing squad worked hard on the Fiestas setup throughout the weekend and O’Donovan was pleased with the potential of the new car.

“I really enjoyed the event in Belgium, the track was brilliant and it was a great venue. I’m very pleased with the Fiesta. We were changing the setup a lot and I think we have at least a second a lap to find very easily. That second and more would have put us in the middle of the hunt for the semi-finals,” said O’Donovan. “We were on too hard a setup with all weekend, but we will change that for the World Championship event next weekend at Lydden Hill and for the next round of the European Championship in Germany.”

“The Fiesta is a big step forward from the Ford Focus we’ve used previously. At the moment we are on Focus pace, but there’s a lot more to come from the new car and from me. I’m a bit nervous with the car at the moment, but we know where we need to improve and we will make as many of those steps as we can this week.”

This weekend, O’Donovan will line up against the best rallycross drivers in the world at the fourth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill in Kent. “I’m really looking forward to racing at Lydden. It’s a track I know very well and I’ve won there before, so I think we can be strong. We want the best result there we can, but we will also be working hard on the car to make sure it is as good as possible for the next British and European rounds at in Ireland and Germany.”


Belgium Result

1 Jerome Grosset-Janin – Peugeot 208 (#74)
2 Ole Christian Veiby – Volkswagen Polo (#52)
3 Tamas Karai – Skoda Fabia (#102)
4 Tommy Rustad – Volkswagen Polo (#24)
5 Frode Holte – Hyundai i20 (#14)
6 Francois Duval – Ford Focus (#67)
7 Joni-Pekka Rajala – Saab 93 (#60)
8 Jean Baptiste Dubourg – Citroen C4 (#87)
9 Fabien Pailler – Peugeot 208 (#20)
10 Jonathan Pailler – Peugeot 208 (#18)
11 Lukas Walfridsson – Renault Clio (#48)
12 Koen Pauwels – Ford Focus (#22)
13 Ollie O’Donovan – Ford Fiesta (#2)

Full results for the FIA European Championship event in Belgium and a full entry list for the British round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship can be found on the World championship website: www.rallycrossrx.com

Practice starts at 10.00 on Saturday, with the first of two qualifying heats at 12.30 and the second at 15.00. Sunday features an hour-long warm-up at 10.30, with heats three and four starting at 11.30. Two semi finals and the all-important final start at 15.00

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