Nathan Ottink is a very young guy from the Netherlands stepping into rallycross supercar territory, and between an interesting performance and a series of factors that can be even called amusing or bizarre, he ended the Sunday at Montalegre as a RallyX Euro winner in his OTS-Racing Ford Focus RX.
As if Saturday winner Ulrik Linnemann has used his entire luck to win Round 1, on Lap 2 of Q1 his engine gave out, and once he brought the Volkswagen Polo RX to the pit lane, the team confirmed that the repairs and replacements couldn’t be done on site, essentially ending the Dane’s weekend. Tommi Hallman then stormed to complete a perfect Qualifying and top all three heats, while Fraser McConnell was the immediate opposition with Oliver Eriksson and Casper Jansson right behind.
José Oliveira appeared as a surprise in the top 5 with Nathan Ottink surprising in sixth, with the Euro RX champion Patrick O’Donovan and GRC and ARX star Tanner Foust staying behind them. Unconvicing performances from Alexandre Janot and Pascal Lambec saw them staying out of the top 12 while fellow Rallycross France driver Nicolas Beaucle was ninth, and this also opened the door for Tom van den Heuvel to advance to the Semifinals since Lane Vacala wasn’t able to find pace.
Semifinal 1 had Eriksson chasing hard Hallman while Beaucle and Foust trading pain, with the American almost rolling and sliding to the barriers. With a puncture appearing on Lap 2, Hallman got out of the fight, and once most Joker Laps were done, Svensson was ahead of Beaucle, who wasn’t giving up without a fight. But an overly optimistic move saw Beaucle in the gravel trap while Svensson took third place while Eriksson won comfortably and Oliveira sneaked into second place.
In Semifinal 2, the packed field was especially bad for McConnell while Simon Olofsson was benefited greatly, but things got too wild when Patrick O’Donovan tried a move on Olofsson, only to spin the top three and open the way with a red carpet for Ottink, who had to hold Casper Jansson for the lead while Tom van den Heuvel was watching from a close distance. Olofsson tried to barge his way to first but failed to unsettle Ottink, so the positions stood as they were.
Moments before the Final, the shock came as Oliver Eriksson wouldn’t be able to start due to a broken link in the rear left wheel, which meant the departure was made with five cars. Once the drivers were able to start, Svensson and van den Heuvel came to group side by side with Jansson, and Jansson took the worst end of the trade at the first chicane, where his FC2 was compressed to the barriers, launched to end up rolling until it stops, with van den Heuvel’s Volkswagen Polo RX also badly damaged.
Three cars departed in the second attempt, with Ottink leading Svensson while Oliveira went early to the Joker. The idea was to chase Svensson down until there was no practical gap to go out of the Joker in the lead, which worked for Ottink to retake the lead in the final lap and then go right to the finish to capture his first win in his second RallyX event.
RallyX Euro - Montalegre II event results
Oliveira has won the Open 4WD Pro-Am Final and Hallman scored an Open 4WD FC2 win.
Next in the calendar will be Ottink’s home event, as Valkenswaard’s Eurocircuit will be host to RallyX South Round 2 and RallyX Euro Round 2 on 26-27 April.
PHOTO: Nathan Ottink/OTS-Racing
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