Irish Rallycross Champion Derek Tohill and the PFCRX team continued its run of strong 2017 performances in the highlight event of the international season at Holjes in Sweden, by setting top-three times and qualifying for the semi-finals (July 2).

Racing the squad’s 600bhp Ford Fiesta Supercar, double FIA European Champion Tohill finished the first day of action at ‘The Magic Weekend’ seventh overall, thanks a pair of consistent times in Q1 and Q2.

Chances of a good result took a hit after contact with fellow Irish driver Ollie O’Donovan in Q3 that resulted in a spin, but the team struck back in Q4 with third fastest time against some of the best drivers and teams in the sport to qualify for the semi-finals.

At the event considered to be the Holy Grail of rallycross, where Tohill has previously claimed victory in the FIA European TouringCar Championship, rain fell on the 41,000 spectators just before the semi-finals.

Starting on the third row of the gird, the challenging conditions made it difficult to move up the order and Tohill finished sixth on track and 11th overall in the event, maintaining his run of 2017 top-12 finishes.

With the pace of the Fiesta improving with every event, the PFCRX team left Sweden confident of strong pace in its next appearances – the British and Irish joint event later this month (July 22 – 23) at Mondello Park and the next round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship at Loheac in France (September 2 – 3).

“Bravery and consistency are really rewarded at Holjes. The team did an amazing job this weekend and the car didn’t let me down once. We are really moving forward in almost every area and we’ve a couple of things in the pipeline that we’re looking forward to testing at Mondello Park in a few weeks.”

FIA European Rallycross Championship Points: