Lynch targets podium from Pembrey double header

Wigan racer Tony Lynch has his sights firmly fixed on the podium positions this weekend as the MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with ODYSSEY Battery heads to Pembrey for the latest rounds of the season.

Westhoughton-based Tony makes the trip to South Wales keen to build on his best performance of the season at Lydden Hill, where only a small error in the final prevented him from a securing a first Super National Class win in his new Lucas Oil Team Geriatric Ford Ka.

Tony was instead left to settle for second place, which means he heads into the Bank Holiday double-header sitting second in the Super National Class standings; just five points away from top spot.

In a unique move for this weekend’s event, the third and fourth rounds of the season will be run on opposite layouts after circuit bosses completed work that will allow the Welsh venue to operate in reverse.

As such, Sunday’s third round will see Tony and his rivals doing battle in the ‘wrong direction’ before the fourth round on Monday runs in the more traditional clockwise direction.

“It should be an interesting weekend, and the fact we are running in both directions means there is a little bit of a step into the unknown,” Tony admitted. “However, we make the trip to Wales in confident mood after our performance last time out at Lydden Hill, where I know we could – and perhaps should – have taken a first win of the year.

“Given how good the car was at Lydden Hill, we haven’t felt the need to make huge changes for this weekend and have instead focused on making sure everything is absolutely perfect so we can hit the ground running when the action gets underway.

“While it is still early in the season, this is a big weekend with two meetings to think about, and it’s going to be important on Sunday in particular to make sure we keep out of trouble with another round to follow.

“I feel a lot more comfortable and confident behind the wheel, so hopefully we can build on the result at Lydden Hill and push for the podium in both rounds this weekend.”

The Pembery meeting will see Tony return to his comfort zone having made his circuit racing debut last weekend at Donington Park.

Racing for the Mintech Spares team, Tony secured a best finish of twelfth in class in the opening three rounds of the MINI Challenge on what proved to be a challenging weekend on track.

“Donington was a tough weekend but one that I really enjoyed,” he said. “It was so competitive throughout the field and a couple of seconds was the difference between being in the pack and being at the back.

“I wasn’t surprised to be at the back in qualifying given the fact that I didn’t have the knowledge and experience of the car that the regular drivers have, but the first race was great and I made up something like nine spots on the opening lap. Racing in the pack was an altogether different experience, although after three laps I found myself wondering when the chequered flag would be out as I’m not used to longer races!

“Unfortunately we had some issues in races two and three that hampered my challenge but it’s certainly something I’d be interested in doing again if the chance came along, and I feel confident that I’d be much closer to the pace.”