Motorsport UK Academy athlete Patrick O’Donovan has become the youngest ever winner of the British Rallycross Championship.

The 18-year-old dominated the penultimate round of the series at Lydden Hill last weekend [5-6 November] to wrap up the honours.

Claiming maximum points from the event, O’Donovan breezed through the intermediate classification, before recovering from a stall off the line to win his first semi-final around the iconic Kent venue.

Under the floodlights in front of a capacity crowd, O’Donovan then stormed through a rain-affected final to win by 38 seconds and claim the coveted crown a round early in his Ford Fiesta.

“I’m absolutely over the moon with winning the championship – it means so much to me to bring this title and the GB1 number back home after growing up watching my father competing in the same field. The way we did it this year, racing together with him in our own team makes it all the more special,” said an elated O’Donovan.

Fellow title contenders Julian Godfrey and Derek Tohill (both Ford Fiesta) wrapped up the podium in second and third respectively.

Sunday’s action was unfortunately abandoned due to the heavy rainfall overnight, with results still to be declared.