Canterbury’s Tristan Ovenden competed in rounds 7 and 8 of the MSA British Rallycross Championship over the weekend of 23rd and 24th September. Which was held at the Welsh circuit of Pembrey.
Saturdays racing would see the direction of racing reversed. Rather unexpectedly rain greeted the drivers for the first qualifying sessions. Ovenden got straight down to business and made use of the longer tarmac starting straight and used the power off the line of his Renault Clio V6 Supernational car to good effect by making great starts and making it difficult for the chasing pack to pass in the tight and twist Welsh circuit.
However, uncharacteristic errors saw him qualify for the final in third place. The final was a close run race with Ovenden edging out his rivals to take the win.
Sunday saw the racing return to its more normal clockwise direction. However, the Welsh weather had taken a turn for the worse and the racing got underway in torrential rain.
Which made track conditions extremely slippery. The Kent driver didn’t let this deter him and he recorded two fastest times and a second fastest time enough to see him in the lead at the intermediate classification stage.
He drove a faultless Semi-final taking the win by a comfortable margin. He started the final in pole position ahead of the pack where he would stay as he took yet another lights to flag win some 16 seconds ahead of the next best placed driver!
With the championship contested over 9 rounds this year there are 2 dropped scores to take into account. Add into the equation that drivers are unable to drop the final round at Croft next month. When all the sums have been done Ovenden currently sits in the championship lead by 9 points. Meaning that the championship will be decided at the final round!
The final round of the MSA British Rallycross Championship will take place at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on 21st October. Racing will get underway at 09:00.
Speaking after the weekend, Ovenden said: “The changeable conditions this weekend made hard work for the team, so a huge thank you to them. We were learning a lot and as the meeting progressed it certainly paid off and to get these great results are more than could have hoped for.”
Images courtesy of Matt Bristow