Double delight for Tony Lynch at Night of Champions

Wigan racer Tony Lynch had extra reason to cheer after picking up two awards from the annual 5 Nations British Rallycross Championship Night of Champions.

Tony headed for the event at Coventry Hilton ready to pick up his award for securing the Retro Rallycross Championship title for a second season in 2023.

At the wheel of his Landsail Team Geriatric-run Toyota MR2, Tony was the man to beat throughout the campaign and wrapped up the championship title with two rounds to spare.

Tony would be handed his Retro Rallycross title by British Rallycross legend John Welch, who lifted the British title twice during his career and also became the first home-grown winner of the British Rallycross Grand Prix event at Brands Hatch.

There was to be a further surprise however when Tony found himself called back onto the stage to be handed the ‘Max Attack’ award.

The award is given out each season for the most attacking drive of the year and was given to Tony for his performance on track at Mondello Park, where he took the fight to the more powerful Super Retro-spec cars across the course of the weekend.

Tony was handed the award by rallycross legend Kenneth Hansen, winner of no fewer than 14 European championships and father to both World Rallycross champion Timmy and European title winner Kevin.

“It was a nice surprise to come away from the awards evening with two trophies to my name, and to be given them by two true legends of the sport,” Tony said. “Although it is my name on the trophy, this is a real team effort and I wouldn’t be able to do it without them, so this is for them as much as it is for me.

“It’s a great way to kick off 2024 and there is still plenty of life in the old dog yet, so hopefully there’ll be more silverware ready to collect when we get to the end of the season!”