Top Three for Doran
Liam Doran finished 6th at Estering but maintains 3rd overall in the ERC

Sixth place in the rain affected eighth round of the European Rallycross Championship was enough for Liam Doran (Sittingbourne) to retain third place in the championship, but left the 23-year-old British star disappointed that he was unable to convert second place on the grid into a better result.

The qualifying heats were run in dry conditions, but rain forecast for Sunday evening arrived just as the A final competitors were preparing for the last race of the event and had a dramatic effect on the way the event was shaped. A first corner crash in the A final left both Doran and defending champion Sverre Isachsen, who started from pole position, with their cars in the barrier. Doran's Citroën team mate Kenneth Hansen was lucky to be able to drive away from the incident in which he was also involved.

Race officials allowed time for repairs to be made and Doran and Isachsen were able to take the restart, but while the latter went on to win, Doran's race was over in less than a lap. "The engineers have not had a chance to look at the car yet, but I think something broke, or there was some damage left after the crash in the first start, when I braked for the second corner the car just spun and I was off the track," said Doran who felt that the race could have provided his second event win of the year, "There was good chance to win here but when it rained it changed everything, it's the first time I've driven the Citroën in the wet. My starts were not great, but I was up there the first time before I got pushed and then ended up in the barrier."

Two rounds remain in the championship which concludes with a pair of races in Poland and the Czech Republic next month.

Results 1 Sverre Isachsen (Ford Focus ST ERC); 2 Kenneth Hansen (Citroën C4 ERC); 3 Mats Lysen (Ford Fiesta ST ERC); 4 Stig-Olov Walfridson (Renault Clio III ERC); 5 Andréas Eriksson (Ford Fiesta VII ERC); 6 Liam Doran (Citroën C4 ERC)

Championship 1 Isachsen 124; 2 Hansen 104; 3= Doran and Michael Jernberg (Skoda Fabia II ERC) 101

Next event, Poland, September 10-12

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