On Easter Monday, Lydden Hill played host again to the 5 Nations British Rallycross Championship for round two of the 2023 season and all eyes were on Patrick O’Donovan after what can only be described as a dominating round one for the 2022 champion. Also adding to the Supercar mix was the welcome return of Nitro Rallycross star Oliver Bennett in his XITE Energy Racing BMW Mini.
The weather was a dominating factor during the day with the Lydden Hill circuit suffering from very wet conditions at the start of the day. The free practice would see Roberts VITOLS in his Citroen C4 head the times with Patrick O’Donovan and Oliver Bennet in close pursuit. Q1 was dominated by Patrick O’Donovan with Jack Thorn in his Peugeot 208 second quickest and Roberts Vitols in the Citroen C4 third fastest. Oliver Bennett had been on the pace in Q1 until a slight coming too with Vitols. Q2 was a carbon copy of Q1 with the top three drivers placing the same positions. Oliver Bennett’s day seemed to go from worse to worse as he spun at the end of the first lap of Q2 whilst leading and he eventually hit the tyre wall in what would be the last outing of the day for Bennett and the BMW Mini.
Semi-final one saw Viktor Vranckx get the better of Patrick O’Donovan by a mere half a second with Vitols in third. Semi-final two was won by Ollie O’Donovan in the Proton Iriz which meant that he would now take pole position for the final. Jack Thorn was second and Roger Thomas third.
Ollie O’Donovan got a flying start in the final but was pushed wide in the first corner. Patrick O’Donovan gradually fought his way to the front and by the halfway point of the first lap, he was now in first place and thus where he stayed for the remainder of the race. Jack Thorn, who had been a force all weekend, managed to take second place with Ollie O’Donovan in a very close third. Tristan Ovenden in the Citroen DS3 managed to snatch the fourth spot from Vitols who ended up in fifth place.
The next rounds will be at Mondello Park in Ireland on June 3rd and 4th
The RacerViews info
By Matt Hancock
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