Irishman Derek Tohill and the PFCRX team concluded a maiden campaign in the French Rallycross Championship at Dreux last month [October 11-12] with the strongest performance of the season, and now heads to Lydden Hill for the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy title-decider [November 8-9].
A week after claiming 5 Nations BRX and Irish RX victories at Mondello Park, Tohill and PFCRX joined the rest of the DA Racing squad at Dreux for the French RX finale, where, with the Peugeot 208 WRX, Tohill set the eighth-best time against a strong French and international contingent. However, contact in Q2 hampered the Irishman’s cause, and while the multiple European and Irish Rallycross Champion was eighth and ninth in Q3 and Q4 to climb back into the semi-finals on Sunday afternoon, that is where the campaign would draw to a close, in front of a hugely passionate French audience.
Having taken a few weeks to recoup after an intense 10 days of rallycross commitment, Tohill now ventures to Lydden Hill, the venue where rallycross was created in 1967, for the 5 Nations BRX season-finale, leading the points table.
The event will feature two points-scoring opportunities, with a separate final on both days, the Saturday main event taking place under floodlights before the annual fireworks display, always well attended by fans.
With three wins and five second-places from the nine rounds so far, Tohill has enjoyed a consistent and strong season against tough opposition and heads the standings by 20 points, but can expect another weekend of strong competition at the popular fireworks event.
All the action will be broadcast via livestream on the 5 Nations BRX Facebook and YouTube channels.
Derek Tohill | Supercar | Peugeot 208 WRX | #77
“We’ve had a great part-season in the French Rallycross Championship this year, and that continued in the finale at Dreux. It was our best overall performance all year against the super-competitive French field, and had it not been for the contact on the first day, I think we could have been in the final. Big congratulations again to Julian Febreau and the whole DA team for winning the event. We’ve had a great welcome in France this season together – it’s helped restore a lot of my love for rallycross in general.
It’s been a brilliant year for us in 5 Nations BRX too, and heading to the final event this weekend at Lydden Hill, we are in a good position. But, as we have seen so so many times in motor sport, and especially rallycross, anything can happen, so our outlook doesn’t change at all. I’ve always enjoyed racing at Lydden, I wasn’t sure about the changes to the track when they were first made with the new jump, but they have actually done a great job with it and I look forward to driving there again. It’s a few years since I raced in the fireworks weekend, which appears to have grown in popularity even more, so it will be a lot of fun to drive a Supercar in that environment. That’s the plan, to enjoy the weekend and see where we end up.”
