O’Donovan to start 5 Nations BRX title-defence with Ford Fiesta
Reigning Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy Champion Patrick O’Donovan will begin the defence of his back-to-back Supercar crowns driving Team RX Racing’s Ford Fiesta Supercar.
O’Donovan will be reunited with the car that he drove to become the youngest-ever British Rallycross title-winner in 2022, having switched to a Peugeot 208 WRX to win his second crown last season.
The 19-year-old, who had a 100% win-rate in the 5 Nations BRX events he started last year on his way to the title, along with winning the Swedish round of the European Rallycross Championship at Holjes and finishing on the World Rallycross Championship on his debut weekend in Hong Kong, will face stiff opposition on his return to 5 Nations BRX, as part of a stellar Supercar line-up.
O’Donovan recently drove the Fiesta during demonstrations at the Autosport International Show Live Action Arena in January, while he has also been driving Hyundai i20 R5 on circuit rally events, and made his top-flight Nitrocross debut earlier this month in Las Vegas, as team mate to Oliver Bennet.
Former Junior RX race-winner and RX150 Rallycross Champion O’Donovan will drive the Fiesta in the opening instalment of 5 Nations BRX at Lydden Hill this weekend, and in the Irish round of the series at Mondello Park in May, but his plans beyond that remain yet to be confirmed.
Patrick O’Donovan:
“I have a lot of good memories from racing the Fiesta two years ago. It will be interesting to see what we can do, because it is far from the most modern car on the grid and from what we already know about who is racing in the British Championship this season, it’s going to be competitive with quite a few different cars and drivers. I always aim to win though, so we will embrace the challenge. The car is different to drive compared to the 208, which is currently being rebuilt at SCM, and the electric cars I’ve been driving recently, but I was driving the Fiesta at the Autosport Show in January and it feels a bit like a nice old comfy shoe when you get in it. It will be special to race a car that has been in the team so long with GB1 on the side as we were not able to do that last year, so let’s see what we can do!”