Historic Double Firsts at Pembrey
Paige and Drew Bellerby broke another record on Sunday when they became the first sisters to each win their class in the British Rallycross Championship.
The third round of the 2017 championship took place at the Pembrey race circuit in south Wales, and utilised the revised track layout for the first time in the championship – Paige described it after practice as “awesome – it flows really well, and it’s is a proper challenge to get a good time”.
After the usual 30 minute practice session, which both girls took full advantage of to settle in and fine tune their car set-ups, the first of the three heats saw Paige’s Lotus finish a close second behind Tristan Ovenden in his Renault Clio, and Drew an even closer third in her heat, just half a second behind Brad Durdin in his BMW Mini.
Heats 2 and 3 saw nip and tuck racing throughout the day, with both girls gaining in confidence as the day progressed.
For her Final, Paige lined up second on the grid, beaten only by Ovenden’s Renault Clio. He beat her into the first corner after she dwelt a little at the lights out, but then he spun wide on the loose section allowing Paige to take a dominant position at the front. She drove a controlled race, with Ovenden in his more powerful Clio catching her on every lap. But a cool head kept her in front, and she won by two-thousandths of a second to take a third set of maximum championship points.
Afterwards, a delighted Paige said “I was so pleased with my performance today, I was getting better control and speed as I learned the new layout during the heats, because I knew Tristan had already competed on the new layout. In the final, my plan was to keep it as neat as I could once I was leading, but I knew Tristan was catching me on every lap. I couldn’t believe how close it was in the end, but I was wringing every last possible drop of performance out of the Lotus and just couldn’t go any faster.”
In the BMW Mini class Drew started the day relatively steadily with a two 3rd places in the first two heats, then a second place. “I was a bit tentative in the beginning, but I watched my in-car footage after each heat to see where I could improve, and that was a big help. Also, I got used to the extra traction and grip from the Yokahama tyres, which really boosted my confidence” was Drew’s explanation for her improving times.
In the 6 lap final, Drew took her Joker on the first lap and was then chasing down Dave Bell; when he took his Joker lap she was handily placed to take over the lead, which she held to the chequered flag.
“I’m over the moon with today” said Drew, “It’s my first championship win in the BMW Mini, and I’m pleased with the way I coped with the pressure and was able to improve my times in each heat.”
Drew and Paige would like to thank their sponsors, FUCHS LUBRICANTS, Procters Coaches, Quaife, Mad4Minis, Kevin for preparing the cars and 710oil without whom their successes would not be possible.
