It was another consistent weekend for Tristan Ovenden in the latest round of the British Rallycross Championship despite some terrible weather conditions. 

Tristan made the trip looking to drive the Peter Gwynne Motorsport prepared and run Suzuki Swift S1600 to success at the Welsh circuit.

For round 3 the Welsh circuit was to be run in reverse for the first time which promised to make for quick racing. However, in a cruel twist of fate the British Bank Holiday weather was to play its part. Torrential rain started in practice and remained until the finals which made the conditions treacherous to say the least, in fact having a heat stopped by a red flag sadly became the norm.

Despite the appalling conditions the Goody Demolition and Promac Solutions backed driver got straight down to business and recorded a second overall in the first qualifying heat and a solid second place in Qualifying 2. Due to the amount of recovery and the time that it was taking the third set of Qualifying heats were abandoned. Ovenden had done enough to claim a front row start in the final. He eventually secured a very satisfying second place for the round and recorded the fastest lap time of the day of 1:07:056 in the process.

The following day and round 4 would see the circuit revert to its normal running direction. The weather was still a huge factor at the start of the day. The championship organisers also decided to run the Super1600 class with the Supernational class and limit qualifying to just three laps, in an attempt to avoid losing time. As the day progressed the great British weather decided to do an about turn and the finals were run in wall to wall sunshine and blue skies! Ovenden recorded a 10th and 6th place for the first 2 qualifying sessions.

Unfortunately, the gear box gemlins that have hounded him this season started to rear their head again and the decision to not run in the final qualifying session was made so that the gearbox could be worked on in readiness for the final. Ovenden then brought his Peter Gwynne Motorsport Suzuki Swift S1600 home in fourth place.

At the season half way point Ovenden is now sitting in a comfortable third place in the championship with hopes of a top 3 finish for the year still very much alive. The championship now makes a short hop over the channel to Maasmechelen in Belgium for round 5 on 16-17 July.

Speaking after the weekend, Ovenden, said: “I was hoping for a consistent trouble free weekend and that is what we achieved, the wet conditions suited me and the car much better, which contributed towards the good result in round 3. Monday, round 4 was looking good again until it dramatically dried up! but I still had a good run in the final, so overall a satisfying weekend.”

Images courtesy of Rubber Duck does Automotive Photography