Former champions Ollie O’Donovan and Derek Tohill scored a Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy victory each as Mondello Park delivered a weekend of intense pace [October 4-5] and Tohill left as the championship leader.

O’Donovan switched to his son Patrick’s 208 WRX for the penultimate weekend of the campaign, the first time he had driven the car, and in a day of wet and dry changeable conditions the 2007 champion joined Tohill in setting fastest overall times in the Saturday qualifying heats.

However, come the semi-finals, contact broke the rear suspension on O’Donovan’s car, demoting him to eighth and last on the grid for the final. Meanwhile, semi-final victory for Tohill netted the 2021 champion pole position for the all-important round eight final.

Making a good start in the final, Tohill led from the front, as O’Donovan climbed to fourth on the opening tour. Having then overtaken John McCluskey (Ford Fiesta) for third at the start of lap two, by the third lap O’Donovan was up to second, and set about hunting down race-leader Tohill. Team RX Racing driver O’Donovan took his compulsory extra-route joker on the penultimate lap, and when Tohill also took the longer route on the final tour, O’Donovan had done enough to climb into the lead and claim an emphatic win, only his second victory in seven years.

MMS RX Team IRL driver McCluskey finished third of the 5 Nations BRX registered runners, with Ian Barrett (Volkswagen Polo) fourth on his return to the series and six-time champion Julian Godfrey (fifth).

In drier conditions on Sunday, it was O’Donovan who qualified on pole position for the final but starting from the outside of the front row, Tohill made the best launch to take the lead on the opening lap. While O’Donovan initially dropped to third, he was quickly back to second and began to apply pressure to Tohill.

The battle between the two stand-out drivers of the event turned into a single-lap shoot out at the end of the weekend, as Tohill took his joker on the fifth lap and O’Donovan responded with his own joker at the next and final opportunity, Tohill returning to the lead to take his third win of the campaign. McCluskey was again classified third, while JGE Team Goody Rallycross driver Godfrey retired from the final following damage sustained in opening-corner contact.

The weekend points’ haul moved Tohill into a 20-point championship lead over reigning champion Patrick O’Donovan, the latter absent from the Mondello Park weekend due to commitments in the FIA Extreme H World Cup.

Team RX Racing continues to lead the Teams’ Championship ahead of the final double-header of the campaign at Lydden Hill next month [November 8-9].

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