Drivers praise success as Euro RX makes historic return to Mondello Park

Drivers praise success as Euro RX makes historic return to Mondello Park

One week on from the return of the FIA European Rallycross Championship to Mondello Park, competitors and fans alike are celebrating a landmark weekend for Irish motorsport.

Prior to FP1, it had been 30 long years since the popular County Kildare venue had last reverberated to the sound of top-flight international rallycross. The anticipation was evident during a downtown parade in nearby Naas on Thursday evening before fans filled the circuit gates over the course of the race weekend.

Drivers were full of praise for the track layout, which was run in reverse compared to its traditional direction in the domestic and British series. SET Promotion star Juha Rytkönen described the racing around the fast, wide 1.395km layout as ‘real rallycross’.

The Euro RX1 podium trios echoed those thoughts, praising the atmosphere generated by the Irish crowd. Event winner Andreas Bakkerud, runner-up Ole Christian Veiby, and third-place finisher Johan Kristoffersson were quick to credit the ‘awesome crowd’, ‘iconic track’, and ‘great event’. Kristoffersson added that ‘the fans are super-passionate about rallycross here – they really know their motorsport’.

Local competitor Derek Tohill, who played a significant role in promoting the event’s return, expressed his delight at the positive reaction from both spectators and fellow drivers.

“There were so many times [Euro RX’s return to Ireland] fell through the net that when it happened in the end, it was almost impossible to believe,” Tohill reflected in an interview with Talking Loose.

“Having been around the world and seen all of the best rallycross venues, promoters, organisers and tracks, there was a lot of apprehension. People were saying to me, ‘you have to do this’ or ‘you have to do that’ and ‘France has this’ or ‘Sweden has that’, but I was like, ‘do you know what, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do – we’ve got to run an Irish event’.

“That’s what we did, and I met thousands of kids over the weekend who were seeing rallycross for the first time and said they loved it – the atmosphere in the stands was phenomenal.

“It’s obviously also important what the drivers feel, and changing the direction of the lap was a risk. I enjoy Mondello’s traditional layout a lot, so I was nervous about the new one, but thankfully, the racing was really good.

“I was talking to [Lohéac event organiser] Patrick Germain afterwards, and he was highly impressed. When a man like that is impressed, you know it’s been pretty good…”

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