The LD Motorsports World RX Team enjoyed a successful two day's of racing at the fourth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, hosted in Kouvola, last weekend.

Irish rallycross star, and former double European Touring car champion, Derek Tohill showed a marked increase in pace throughout the weekend, and finished the eighth overall in the final classification.

With a series of top ten heat results - 9th, 8th, 10th, 6th - Tohill emerged eighth in the intermediate classification and lined up on the second row of semi final two. However in an unfortunate turn of bad luck, Tohill was caught up in a huge four car smash involving Toomas Heikkinen, Petter Solberg and fellow LD Motorsports backed driver Liam Doran.

"We had four strong heats, and were in the top eight all weekend. We are really mixing it with the top guys now," explained Tohill. "I got a great start in the semi final, it's such a shame that both me and my LD Motorsports team mate Liam got put out by getting caught up in Toomas Heikkinen's accident. He probably couldn't see where he was he was going, the conditions were that bad."

"We could have been close to having three cars in the main final. I knew in Norway we had turned a corner. People were looking for results, and I went home from Norway happy, knowing how to unleash the speed. I'm feeling much more confident in the car now, I was actually looking forward to a bit of rain. The team have done a great job, and I think we will be getting stronger and stronger in Sweden and the rest of the season."

Elsewhere, Riku Tahko - former World Rally Championship driver - made a successful Rallycross Supercar debut in front of a delighted Finnish home crowd. The 29-year-old Finn, from nearby Porvoo raced to 15th, 16th, 14th, and 18th in the qualification heats in a closely matched field. Gaining confidence over the weekend, Riku even won his qualification race for heat three.

"I didn't know what to expect, but it's definitely been much better than I could have ever imagined," said Riku. "It's been the best experience in a race car for me. Of course World Championship rallies are tough, but this was so hectic on another level.

"This is real racing. I was pretty close to making the cut for the semi's, without the decision of the re-run of heat three I would have been in the top ten for the semi's for sure, the difference was only one point in the end. I'm really grateful to have had the chance to start off my first rallycross race with a top team, and I'm hoping to do at least one more event before the end of the championship - possibly France of Germany. Thank you again to the team, and my sponsors, for all their hard work, and for the fans for coming out to support."

The championship continues next weekend, with round five - World RX of Sweden - in Hӧljes on the 05/06 June. Follow LD Motorsports' progress at the World on social media via https://www.facebook.com/LDMotorsportsRX 

 @ldmotorsports

LD Motorsports, based in the south-west of England, builds and prepares competition cars in-house to race in the FIA World Rallycross and X Games championships. LD Motorsports staffs and runs two separate teams; the 'LD Motorsports World RX Team' and the 'Monster Energy World RX Team'. In addition to running Citroen DS3 supercars for the LD Motorsports World RX Team and Monster Energy WorldRX Team, LD Motorsports also maintains two Monster Energy Suzuki Swifts in the British Rallycross Championship, the infamous Pikes Peak Ford RS200, and selected competition drift car projects. In 2013 LD Motorsports finished the season as the most successful team in the European championship with four wins and five podiums from nine races. For 2014 LD Motorsports is aiming at further success in the inaugural FIA World Rallycross Championship, as well as other selected events including X Games, and the Pikes Peak hill climb.

Photos courtesy of McKlein / Johnny Loix

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