Championship racing in Belgium and Holland brought solid results and enormous disappointment for Monster Energy athlete Liam Doran.

Doran was placed sixth in the Belgian event at Maasmechelen but suffered his first ever non-qualification after a crash in Holland.

“Belgium was a pretty good event, specially compared to what has happened here,” said Doran at the end of the Dutch race “I qualified for the A final and managed to get into the Joker Lap in the first lap of the race. I was the only one who used it then and should have been a great advantage but as I came out of the Joker, Michael De Keersmaecker was trying to get his car off the track because he’d got broken steering and he hit me. It was just one of those stupid things that happens, a split second earlier or later and we’d both have been okay, but it cost me a lot of time and then I got stuck in the traffic and ended up with sixth place.”

Entering the Dutch event on the Eurocircuit at Valkenswaard Doran was quietly confident. “We tested here a month ago and learned a lot about the car as well as getting a setup for the track that I was very happy with. The conditions are a bit different this weekend but we are in good shape,” said Doran who was third fastest in the first heat on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday brought a dramatic change and abrupt end to the event for Doran who was caught up in a first corner crash in his second heat.

“I cut behind Alexander Hvaal to get the inside line going into the first corner but one of his wheels caught one of mine, my car went into the air and then hit the barrier when it landed. I was still driving but the officials stopped the race and when my engineers looked at the car there was too much damage for me to go back into the restart. Almost every suspension and steering part was damaged and we ran out of time to change everything before the third heat so that was me out of the event. It’s the first time I have ever non-qualified. I’ve got two events left to try and get a win on the board, and the next event is Finland where I won in 2010, so I’m looking forward to that,” said Doran.

Belgium, August 5
1 Timur Timerzyanov (Citroen DS3) 3m55.321s;

2 Tanner Foust (Ford Fiesta VII) + 2.0s;

3 Davy Jeanney (Citroen C4) +3.3s;

4 Jos Kuypers (Ford Fiesta VII) + 1.9s;

5 Jerome Grosset-Janin (Renault Clio III) +1.9s;

6 Liam Doran (Citroen DS3) +0.2s;

7 Stig-Olov Walfridson (Renault Clio III) +1.0s;

8 Michael De Keersmaecker (Ford Focus II) 0 laps.

Holland, August 12

1 Timur Timerzyanov (Citroën DS3);

2 Davy Jeanney (Citroën C4);

3 Frode Holte (Volvo C30);

4 Michael De Keersmaecker (Ford Focus II);

5 Mats Lysen (Renault Clio III);

6 Tanner Foust (Ford Fiesta VII);

7 Peter Hedström (Skoda Fabia II);

8 Alexander Hvaal (Citroën C4).

Championship

1 Timerzyanov 128;

2 Foust 89;

3 Alexander Hvaal (Citroen C4) 82;

4 Doran 67;

5 De Keersmaecker 73;

6 Mats Lysen (Renault Clio III) 65

Next event, Kouvola, Finland, September 21-23