HOLSWORTHY’S youngest ever British Rallycross Champion, Dan Rooke, concluded his first international rallycross season by securing second overall in the RX2 International Series at the season finale in South Africa on Sunday, November 12.

The 20-year-old entered the event with a 22-point lead over Belgian driver Guillaume De-Ridder, and knew a solid qualifying performance would secure the runners-up spot before the semi-final and final stages.

Finishing second in Qualifier One set Rooke up well for the first ever rallycross event held at the Killarney International Raceway on the outskirts of Cape Town, but contact and damage in the second and third qualifiers left the South West-based driver with work to do.

Fourth in Qualifier Four lifted Rooke back up the order into fifth at the Intermediate Classification and in the process secured second overall in the competitive series.

Racing into the semi-finals without any pressure, Rooke was slowed by poor visibility in the first semi-final as challenged champion Cyril Raymond, but finished third to make it into the final.

However, while pushing hard in the early laps of the decider with the intention of making his way into a podium position, Rooke hit a tyre wall and rolled his Team Faren-run RX2 machine onto its roof.

An annoyed Rooke, said: “The track had just been watered before the semi-final, I was behind Cyril at the start and my windscreen got covered, then we had a wiper problem so I was driving with a smeared, dirty screen for the whole race.

“Then in the final I just pushed too hard trying to find that bit of extra time and clipped a tyre stack on an apex, and rolled one and a half times. I think it’s fair to say luck hasn’t been entirely with me this year, I’ve had some more damage and punctures than some of my rivals, but that happens in rallycross.”

The British driver was satisfied with securing the runner-up position in the standings.

“I’ve had a fast career journey for sure. To think this is only my third year in rallycross, and the first year without a title, it’s been such a rollercoaster.

“It’s been such a stressful year trying to get the budget together, but it was only a few years ago I was racing in autocross, something not many people have heard of, and to now be racing in an international series — it’s been pretty crazy.

“The plan at the start of the year was to just do five rounds, but we’ve done the whole season. We’ve had the pace all year, we’ve always been within the top three in the lap times and although this weekend we had ups and downs where we only had one really clear race, we know the speed is there, so it’s positive. We knew we just needed eighth in the Intermediate Classification and we did that. I really enjoyed myself.”

The Team Faren squad also collected the Teams’ Championship award for the best average points score across the season.

Rooke is already focusing on 2018 and said: “I want to try and stay in RX2, we battled for budget this year but now hopefully with this result it will help us to find a bit more backing, and maybe we will have a bit more luck too.

“The exposure of RX2 has grown massively this year, and as the stepping stone into the World Championship and it’s the best option for me at the moment. Getting into World RX is still my goal.”