Landsail Team Geriatric secures double podium from Lydden Hill opener

Wigan racer Tony Lynch enjoyed a solid start to his Retro Rallycross programme with a double podium finish from the 2021 season opener at Lydden Hill.

Running as part of the support bill for the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy, Tony and his Landsail Team Geriatric outfit headed for Kent hoping to challenge for silverware in the double-header meeting – with round one on Saturday being followed by round two on Bank Holiday Monday.

The event marked the debut for Tony’s new-look Toyota MR2, which had undergone extensive work over the winter in a bid to challenge for the Retro Rallycross crown.

Saturday’s opening meeting saw Tony pick up a hat-trick of third place finishes in the three heats and a rocket start to the final saw him take the lead ahead of the Mini of Terry Moore.

Tony managed to keep the rapid Mini behind until the end of the second lap and was then forced to fight hard to keep Steve Cozens at bay before taking the flag in second spot.

Monday’s second round would see Tony qualify at the front of the grid in a depleted field and although he held the lead when the lights went out, he then lost the lead to Moore going through turn one.

From there, Tony would chase the Mini down and twice managed to get back ahead only to then see Moore reclaim the lead going up the hill to the hairpin. Moore would eventually hold on to take the win as Tony wrapped up a second runners-up finish of the weekend.

With points across the two rounds being awarded for both qualifying and the finals, Tony finds himself leading the standings after the first two rounds, with an advantage of eight points to take into round three at Pembrey.

“It’s great to come away from the opening round with two podium finishes, but we’re under no illusions about the fact that we have work to do ahead of the next round,” he said. “We have done a lot over the winter to improve the performance of the car, but it’s clear that we are still not quite where we want to be.

“Off the line, we had the edge over the other cars but we don’t have the outright pace at the moment which meant it was tough as the races went on. I had to push really hard to keep Steve at bay in round one and although the fight with Terry in round two was fantastic, he had the extra speed when it mattered and I couldn’t keep ahead.

“We’ll now regroup and will be working hard with our technical partners to improve the car, and we also need to try and get more weight out of it if possible too. I have to give massive credit to the team as we had a few little issues across the weekend that they worked hard to fix, and that allowed me to go out and put on a good show across the weekend.

“We’ve got some good points on the board, but there is plenty of hard work coming up to let us build on the results this weekend.”

Tony and Team Geriatric are supported by Landsail Tyres, Lucas Oil, Pemberton Tyres, SignTec, Rye Motors, AVO Suspension, Waldron Motorsport Developments, Wigan Car Paints and Tootsies Footwear.

Round 1:

Round 2: