First European Win For Doran

Liam Doran (Sittingbourne) became the first British driver to win an event in the European Rallycross Championship for almost two decades when he claimed his first victory in the series in Finland on Sunday.

Doran (23) took his win in a dramatic A final to the Finnish event which took place at Kouvola, 100 miles north east of Helsinki. Fighting back from engine problems in the first day of the event, and being pushed off the track by another competitor in his second qualifying heat, Doran qualified fourth for the A final and ran third in the first lap, behind his team mate Kenneth Hansen who led the race and current champion Sverre Isachsen.

A clash between Isachsen and Hansen led to the latter's Citroën C4 suffering a puncture that forced Hansen to reduce his pace. Isachsen then took the lead with Doran chasing and catching with each lap. In the last lap of the race Isachsen's Ford Focus faltered after landing heavily on a small jump at the end of the lap and Doran snatched his opportunity, passing the race leader to take his first win.

"I knew I couldn't give up so I just kept going as fast as I could without letting the car slide around too much. I could see that I was catching Isachsen each lap and I was just close enough at the end to get the win," said Doran, "The team has worked really hard to get more speed from the car over the last few events and now we are in a position to win events and I want to win some more!"