Successful Sprint outing for Tony Lynch

Tony Lynch enjoyed a successful weekend of on-track action at Aintree after taking advantage of a break in his Retro Rallycross Championship programme to contest the latest Sprint event at the circuit.

Tony and his Landsail Team Geriatric outfit made the short trip along the East Lancs from base in Westhoughton to take part in the event, which marked Tony’s first appearance in a wholly tarmac-based competition for a number of years.

At the wheel of the Toyota MR2 that has carried him to the Retro Rallycross crown for the past two seasons, Tony showed impressive pace in the 1980s car against a raft of more modern vehicles spread across a variety of classes – from production road machinery through to lightweight, space-framed kit cars powered by motorbike engines.

Topping the times in his class during official practice, Tony was then quickest across all six timed runs during the afternoon, with a best time of 54.53s at the former home of the British Grand Prix being eight-tenths of a second quicker than the Honda Civic Type R of Peter Hamlett.

In fact, Tony’s best lap was the quickest seen in Class 3B since the May 2023 event, with three similar Sprints having taken place since then.

“The trip to Aintree was all about having fun, and that certainly proved to be the case,” Tony said. “Of course you want to win every time you go out on track but it was really all about the opportunity to support Liverpool Motor Club in keeping Aintree alive as a motorsport venue.

“After my surgery over the winter, it was also a good chance to spend more time behind the wheel of the car and to keep sharp given the current gap in the calendar, and it’s certainly the kind of event I’d like to do more of if the opportunity arose.”