Over the Easter weekend Kent’s Tristan Ovenden went into the opening weekend of the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy at his home circuit of Lydden Hill looking to push for at the top end of the racing.
Over the winter the Goody Demolition backed team had made changes to the car and tested extensively ready for the 2025 campaign. Ovenden started off as fourth fastest in practice so was more than ready for the racing.
However, on the first lap of qualifying 1 the car unexpectedly coasted to a stop. It was discovered that there was a problem with the oil pump. This left the Witham Motorsport supported driver chasing position for most of the day.
Semi-final 2 saw Ovenden line up on the second row in fifth place and after taking his joker on lap 2 to get free air he secured a place in the final.
After a delayed start to the Supercar final Ovenden lined up on the back row in 8th spot. After some trademark smooth driving he managed to claw back 2 positions and claim 6th place at the flag.
Round 2 was held on Easter Monday with Ovenden focused on going better than the Saturday. The team were still battling some small niggles, but Ovenden managed to secure a respectable seventh place after the three qualifying heats.
A second row start for his semi-final and a solid drive saw him take third place and gain a second row start for the final.
The same story for the final saw Ovenden finish in fifth place after a well time joker lap. A solid start to the team’s 2025 campaign as Ovended praised everyone for their support:
“We were feeling good going into the weekend, both cars tested and with the experience we have with the Supercar now, we feel confident to get the most from what we have. In the first heat we were on the pace straight way and was thinking of a good result even on lap one. So, I was really annoyed when oil pump belt broke, and we coasted to a halt.”
“The rest of the heats were promising, but we had a niggling low fuel pressure issue that we mitigated, but never fully fixed. We still made the final and was satisfied with the result. Similar story on Monday round two, but this time went one better in the final, so happy enough.”
“Will in the Cross Car was amazing racing, he was disappointed with 5th on Saturday but shouldn’t have been. He made amends on Monday and got on the podium with third, and it was a ridiculously close finish with less than a second between the top three!”
“Thanks very much to the team for putting themselves out for a long weekend. We have guys that travel three hours to come and help, just brilliant. We couldn’t do it without them all.”
The championship now moves to Mondello Park in Ireland over the weekend of 24th and 25th May, Where Ovenden will be looking to improve his championship points standing at a circuit that he has historically performed well at.
Will Ovenden has made a category change for the 2025 season and is contesting the Motorsport UK Cross Car Championship. Having already contested round one at Blyton Park two weeks earlier the young driver was becoming increasingly confident with his new drive.
In fact recording a 4th place on the Saturday and then claiming his maiden podium finish on the Monday putting his Digger Sim Mygale XC04 Cross Car on the third step of the podium! This also sees him in a strong third place in the championship.