Kent’s Tristan Ovenden was looking to put the trials of rounds 1 and 2 behind him as he and his Yellow and Red team travelled to Mondello Park in Ireland for rounds 3 and 4 of Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy.

It’s a circuit which in the past has suited him well and seen him win there.

Unfortunately, after practice on Saturday morning the Witham Motorsport backed car developed a mechanical problem effecting the boost in the car, putting Ovenden on the back foot for the rest of the day.

Despite pushing hard in a hugely competitive field at the intermediate stage he was in 9th place. This saw Ovenden gain a second-row grid spot for the semi-final. The line up could easily have been the final itself!

He would finish in 5th place missing out on a place in the final by less than 2 seconds!

Sunday with the mechanical gremlins behind him the Goody Backed driver set out to build on the speed he knew the car was capable of.

Despite a heart in mouth moment during practice where a spin resulted in steering damage. At the intermediate stage Ovenden sat in 8th place securing a 4th spot on the grid for his semi-final. In which he would skilfully drive his DS3 Supercar to third place which in turn would secure a back row spot for the final.

After absolute mayhem at T1 Ovenden found himself at the rear of the field he opted to take his joker on the first lap to give himself a clear run. He narrowly missed out on a podium place by clawing his way to fourth. A good result given the quality of the field and scoring valuable championship points.

Speaking about the weekend, Tristan Ovenden said:

‘It’s so competitive there now. We had a boost air leak problem which robbed of us power in Q1, day 1 that put us on the back foot, and it took us most of the weekend to get the speed back.”

“We just missed the podium on the Sunday at round 4, despite a spin in warm up and some damage, which gave the team 15 mins to make the repair before Q1! Amazing turnaround by them.”

“The support we get in Ireland is so good, and they really appreciate us going to put on a great Rallycross weekend.”

Meanwhile, Will Ovenden was looking to build on his clean sweep at round 1 and 2. On Saturday the young driver looked unstoppable comfortably winning all his heats and romping home to take the overall win.

Sunday and continued business as usual winning both of his first two heats, however the car developed engine problems. He had already qualified for championship points, so it was decided to with draw from the remaining heat and final to save on any further damage.

Pictures supplied by Matt Bristow.