European Rallycross Championship Round 2, Dreux, France, April 28^th – 29^th. 

Derek Tohill (Dublin, Ireland) took home the gold medal in the second round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship TouringCar class at Dreux in France. 

Horrendous stormy and wet weather conditions prevailed in France over the two days making driving and working conditions extremely difficult. 

Tohill (Ford Fiesta Mk7) lay in a satisfactory third place after the first qualifying heat on Saturday afternoon.  The position would have been improved only for a radio system malfunction between the driver and team at the last lap.  In the second qualifying heat Derek took the lead, however an unfortunate spin left him finishing in 11^th place and under massive pressure for the third heat to even qualify for a final.  A strong result in the third heat was essential.  The Irishman delivered posting the fastest time overall in the third heat.  This ensured Tohill would qualify directly into the main A Final. 

Conditions were challenging in France but it did not deter the drivers or fans

The PartsforCars backed driver sat second on the grid for the A Final next to Anton Marklund (Sweden) Ford Fiesta MK7 who was the winner from the first round in Lydden Hill.   Belgian Pedro Bonnet (Volvo C30 RWD) completed the front row in third place.  Tohill got a superb start and went into the first corner in first position ahead of Marklund and Roman Častoral (Opel Astra OPC RWD). The Irishman went on to lead the final from start to finish, taking the joker on the fourth lap and managing to re-join ahead of Marklund who was lying in second resulting in Tohill taking gold ahead of Marklund and Častoral. 

Tohill shows his delight after an impressive drive to victory

After two rounds Tohill lies second in the championship just two points behind Marklund with 2006 European Rallycross Champion Častoral lying 3 points further adrift in third. 

Tohill commented afterwards, I am so delighted for the team after this victory in France.  When the awning blew off our truck before the final I thought it just wasn’t our day.  But, we worked so hard and the victory is thoroughly deserved.  This victory is a long tome coming and gives us confidence going into round three in Austria on May 26^th to 27^th.  A big thanks to all the team both home & abroad, this is a result of digging deep and many companies and individuals have been involved in helping this victory take place. 

The Tricolour is flying high again in European Rallycross

Round 3 of the 2012 FIA European Rallycross Championship takes place in Austria at the PS Racing Center, Greinbach, Austria on May 26th & 27^th. 

1	Derek Tohill		Ford Fiesta Mk7 RWD	20
2	Anton Marklund		Ford Fiesta Mk7 RWD	17
3	Roman Častoral		Opel Astra OPC RWD	15
4	Pedro Bonnet		Volvo C30 RWD	13
5	Tom Daniel Tånevik		Mazda RX-8	12
6	Jos Sterkens		Volvo C30 RWD	11
7	Koen Pauwels		Ford Fiesta Mk7 RWD	10
8	Robin Olsson		Peugeot 207 RWD	9
9	Mandy Kasse		Ford Fiesta Mk7 RWD	8
10	Nick Snoeys		Ford Fiesta ST RWD	7

Standings

1. Anton Marklund – 37 

2. Derek Tohill – 35

3. Roman Castoral – 32

Results Courtesy of Rallycross Online

The conditions throughout the entire weekend were extremely wet, windy, muddy and cold. But, this suited the Irish team just fine as it was exactly like a Rallycross weekend at Mondello Park in Ireland! The event began with a small oil fire in practice but the Rallycross Rebels crew quickly repaired the damage and ensured Tohill lost minimum track time in practice.

Lydden Hill in Kent hosted the opening round of the 2012 ERC. Photo Courtesy Rallycross World

Tohill didn’t disappoint in the qualifying heats and dominated his 3 qualifying races by taking victory in all heats. The Irishman driving his Ford Fiesta MK.7 posted two fastest times in the heats which guaranteed Tohill pole position for the all important main A Final. The PartsforCars supported driver would line up on the front row alongside 2006 European Champion Roman Castoral from Czech Republic (Opel Astra OPC) and young Norwegian David Nordgard (Ford Focus MK.2).

Tohill Pushing Hard in the Heats. Photo Courtesy Dave Smeets

As the lights flashed green for the A Final Tohill made a slippery get away and then got caught up in first corner contact with Norwegian driver Nordgard. Tohill slipped back through the field as he rejoined the track but then put his head down and climbed back up to a podium position in 3rd place. Tohill and the team were very disappointed not to take victory after a dominant performance all weekend.

Conditions were Challenging all weekend! Photo Courtesy Dave Smeets

 
Tohill commented afterwards “A 3rd place is not what we had in mind as the weekend progressed but it’s good points and a long season, I thank everyone for helping us make it to the grid for round 1, for me this was the hardest job and sometimes it’s just half the work just to be on the grid for the first round, I look forward to a dry event to see where we stack up against our opposition.”

Times were encouraging all weekend... Photo Courtesy Rallycross World

Round 2 of the 2012 FIA Rallycross Championship takes place in France at the Circuit de l’Ouest Parisien – Dreux on April 28th & 29th.

1	Anton Marklund		Ford Fiesta Mk7 RWD	20
2	Roman Častoral		Opel Astra OPC RWD	17
3	Derek Tohill		Ford Fiesta Mk7 RWD	15
4	Tom Daniel Tånevik		Mazda RX-8	13
5	Koen Pauwels		Ford Fiesta Mk7 RWD	12
6	David Nordgård		Ford Focus Mk2 RWD	11
7	Kim Steinsholt		BMW E87	10
8	Pedro Bonnet		Volvo C30 RWD	9
9	Jari Järvenpää		BMW E87	8
10	Per Magne Røyrås		Peugeot 206 RWD	7

Standings

1. Anton Marklund - 20

2. Roman Castoral – 17

3. Derek Tohill – 15

Results Courtesy of Rallycross Online

Derek took victory in his first drive of the RX150’s and hopes to do more events in the future in these spectacular Motorcycle engined Buggies.

For this event Tohill had to leave his European spec Ford Fiesta MK.7 at home due to some technical problems after the final race of the European Rallycross Championship in Czech Republic.  The Irishman did a deal at the very last moment to drive Andy Scotts RX150 Rage Buggy.  These lightweight Buggies are rear wheel drive and come with a 954cc Honda Fireblade engine with a sequential short shift gearbox.

Derek felt comfortable in the motorcycle engined buggy straight away

The Irishman traveled throught the night to get to Croft and on Saturday morning he jumped in and made himself aware of his new office for the day.  It was a wet first run and not knowing how the wipers worked wasn’t ideal!  In any case the Irishman pushed on and kept the Buggy on the island, just!

The 2 qualification heats then began and the Irishman had some close battles with newly crowned2011  British RX 150 Champion Ollie O’Donovan.   Derek & Ollie took a win a piece in slippery conditions, the Final would see the pair start on the front row alongside each other.

Derek & Ollie O'Donovan getting to know each other! Photo Courtesy of Leigh Hickey

As the lights turned green, Ollie had the motorbike engined clutches mastered  and got a clean get away off the line.  Derek wasn’t far behind and the pair swaped positions furiously for the first few laps.  Ollie wasn’t going to make things easy but Derek knew Ollie was a hard nut and the pair fought hard & close on a few occasions.   On lap 3 Derek wrestled the lead again from Ollie and managed to make  a small gap, he drove hard over the final 2 laps and eventually took the chequered flag in 1st position.  This was Derek’s first experience of the RX150 buggy and the 2010 European Rallycross Champion thouroughly enjoyed the close competition.

Derek drove Andy Scotts RX150 to an A Final victory at Croft

After the final round of the British Championship the end of season Rallycross Grand Prix took place.  Derek took the Heat 1 win and the other 2 Heats were won by Ollie.  The front of the A final was made up of Ollie, Derek & 2010 RX150 Champion Leo Forster.  As the A final started there was close contact between Ollie & Leo, this meant Derek had to move off his normal racing line which allowed Kevin Feeney to make a strong move up the inide of  the Teng Tools backed Irishman.  Tohill reacted to Feeneys move and made contact with Forster.  Tohill, Feeney & Forster all lost time together and the rest of the field escaped.  Derek fought back and managed to climb back up to 3rd overall.  Ollie taking the win this time ahead of Jake Harris & Tohill.

Steer from the rear...

So two podium finishes which included an overall victory and third place is how the Irishmans weekend ended in an eventful RX150 debut!   The Irishman commented; “It was a fantastic opportuinity to sample these fast and furious machines, I expected them to be difficult to drive and thought it would be all about lap times.  It was a bit of a pleasant surprise to see the racing was hard & aggresive, this is just the kind of environment I’m used to competing in and i’d love to give it a go again.  The RX Racing Team headed by Ollie O’Donovan & Willie Woods is a professionally run outfit with good support and a friendly atmosphere.  It’s an ideal machine to keep me on my toes throughout the Winter, watch this space…

Derek enjoyed the slippery conditions in the high reving RWD buggy

The victory at Croft driving the RX150 Rage Buggy was tohill’s third win in the MSA British Rallycross Championship in 2011.  The Tractive Transmisions supported driver won the opening round of the British Championship at Lydden Hill, Kent in the Supernational category driving his Ford Fiesta MK.7.  Tohill then turned to driving his newly built Peugeot 106 in the Hot Hatch category for round 3 at Mondello Park.  Again the Irishman took victory in the ultra competitive class where the Irishman started his career in Rallycross.   This meant Tohill won every round of the MSA British Championship he entered in 2011 but in 3 different classes!!!  A nice triple victory ending to a tough season which also resulted in 3rd overall in the FIA European Rallycross Championship in TouringCars.

Derek drove his Fiesta to victory at Rd.1 of the 2011 British Championship