There was close racing right to the end of the last lap of the year in the Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship with Andy Scott snatching victory at Croft after making a late pass on newly crowned 2011 British Rallycross Champion Julian Godfrey. Scott’s win in the final round of the seven-event series also gave him second place in the championship, the Ford Focus driver winning out in a four-way battle for the runner-up position to Godfrey who had secured his title in the penultimate round after a confusing mathematical points scenario meant no other driver could surpass him.
Scott qualified on pole position for the A final, Godfrey alongside him and again securing the five bonus points for fastest time of the day. David Binks, driving the Best Buy Ford Fiesta with the Haynes logo emblazoned across the rear wheel arches, completed the front row. Kevin Procter led the third row, with retiring champion, and another of those still bidding for second place, Pat Doran.
Godfrey made the best start and led the final, Scott and Binks running second with the top three immediately opening out a gap to Procter who made a great start to climb to fourth, Doran following him up the order. At the start of the second lap Godfrey made a small mistake and ran wide across the gravel trap in the first corner but was able to retain the lead.
At the front, the race order appeared set, but in the last lap Scott sprung a surprise on Godfrey. Binks also took his chance, passing Godfrey and running Scott close in the dash to the chequered flag, the pair split by 0.063s. Godfrey crossed the line in third place, philosophical about his defeat, “Andy got his nose alongside and made the space, and that forced me wide so Binks got past too, I wanted to win but the championship was the main thing and I’m very happy to have that,” he said as his team fixed the coveted ‘GB1′ race number to his Fiesta Supercar.
After finishing second in the final round, and in so-doing finishing 3rd overall in the championship for the second year running, David Binks and the Best Buy Ford Fiesta rallycross team set its sights instead on taking the British Rallycross Grand Prix title home to close an excellent 2011 season.
Rallycross has three heats from which drivers take their best two scores to qualify for a final. David had a great first heat and finished second. In the second heat he came from 8th on the grid to second after the first corner only to be spun out at the hairpin while fighting for the lead. It all came together in the third heat where David ran away from the field and set the fastest time of the day by more than 3 seconds.
For the final David started on pole and as they accelerated from 0-60mph in under 2 seconds David edged in front of the field only for contact behind him to push him back to third. Putting together all he learnt this year David rocketed back up to second and showed phenomenal speed to close on the leader, Liam Doran. As the second lap ended, Doran made a mistake at the hairpin and David came alongside. As they accelerated to over 100mph on the loose surface, Doran began to squeeze David off the road consequently pushing him into a tyre pillar, breaking the steering column and putting him out of the race.
Quotes from the day:
David Binks: This year has been a fantastic experience to work with Best Buy and the OMSE Ford Fiesta and I am so grateful for the opportunity. To win at this level you have to take opportunities and gaps when they appear -- even if the gap may be small. I am sure Liam and I will disagree about what happened but let's just say I won't let it happen again and I look forward to 2012! We had the speed to put the Best Buy Ford Fiesta into Victory Lane and just needed that little bit of luck. However, fastest time of day is a little consolation and will help me sleep a little over the long winter break!
Andreas Eriksson (Team Manager): David did everything we could have asked or expected of him today. He drove very aggressively and that lead to his fastest times and he is really getting the feel of the new car. Winners see gaps no matter how small and make them fit their car. Before the final I told David that he already more paintwork from other people than of his own so just to keep driving fair but hard. He did that.
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