Tohill records his best result in Europe yet

DEREK Tohill and his PFCRX team recorded their best-ever performance in international Supercar competition when they finished fifth in the opening round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship in Barcelona.

The Terenure man finished tenth in the Intermediate Classification to secure further passage to the semi-finals, and this after having had to take an additional joker lap in two of the qualifying races for jumping the start.

Starting from the third row of the grid in semi-final one, Tohill made a brilliant manoeuvre on Norwegian Alexander Hvaal on Lap One to move up to second, and pushed hard to finish third and earn his first ever Euro RX Supercar final start.

A tremendous start in the final saw the reigning Irish rallycross champion move up to fourth and he fought hard to cross the line in fifth behind Rene Munnich of Germany, his Irish compatriot Ollie O’Donovan, Hungary’s Tamas Pal Kis and winner Anton Marklund from Sweden.

“We had really strong pace all weekend, even with doing more joker laps than anyone else,” said a delighted Tohill.

“If we had started on the front or middle row of the semi-final – who knows where we would have been.

“From being 20th after Q1, finishing fifth is a fantastic result. The pace is there.

“We burst a power steering pipe in the semi-final and were nursing the car home through the final. To be on the back bumper of a podium with that issue was great.

“Everyone did the 500 little things right and it all came together in the end. There’s lot more to come, but this is a really good start to the championship.

“I feel if anything we under-performed, so that bodes well for the season,” he added.