Liam Doran (born 22 March 1987)
is a British professional
rallycross driver competing in the
FIA World Rallycross Championship
The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull and KW25). From the inaugural season in 2014 ...
,
Global RallyCross Championship
The TitansRX International Series (formerly known as Red Bull Global Rallycross or Global Rallycross) is a group of rallycross series, currently organised by racing driver Max Pucher and businessman Chip Pankow. The initial series was series ru ...
,
X Games
The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...
, and
European Rallycross Championship. He is the son of British rallycross driver and
Lydden Hill Race Circuit
Lydden Hill Race Circuit (formerly known as Lydden Circuit) is a motorsport venue in Denton with Wootton, about half-way between Canterbury and Dover in Kent, England. The mile-long circuit is mainly used for Rallycross, Drift, Saloon and Spo ...
owner
Pat Doran. In his early life he attended Fulston Manor School in Sittingbourne.
Having signed with Monster Energy in 2011 he has gone on to achieve an X Games Gold medal and numerous other accomplishments in various disciplines.
Racing career
2000
Doran started his career at the age of 14 choosing to follow in his fathers footsteps. In 2000 he competed in a junior
Mini
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
in the sport of rallycross. Doran progressed through the stages rapidly and continued in rallycross, driving a
Citroën Saxo
The Citroën Saxo was a supermini produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1996 to 2004. It was sold in Japan as the Citroën Chanson, because Honda had registered the "Saxo" name. As a badge engineered variant of the Peugeot 106 (whic ...
stockhatch and then a rear-wheel drive
Ford Fiesta in 2007.
2009
In 2009 Doran ran among the quickest drivers in Europe in a Ford Fiesta ST Supercar and beat them, managing in the process to come second in the MSA British Rallycross Championship.
2010
Doran secured a drive with 14-times
European Rallycross Champion Kenneth Hansen driving with the
Citroën Total Rallycross Team in a
Citroën C4. He managed to get to grips with the new Citroën very quickly and soon managed to get some outstanding results, being the driver to score the most points in the second half of the season, all this taking into consideration it was his first year at European level.
2011
In 2011 Doran had built up a reputation within the rallycross industry and resulting from this managed to sign with
Monster Energy.
The newly formed Monster Energy Citroën Rallycross Team opened new doors of opportunity for Doran.
Doran was invited to participate in
X Games 17 and went in as the underdog to drivers such as
Tanner Foust
Tanner Foust (born June 13, 1973) is an American professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack, hill climb and rallycross with multiple podium placements, national champions ...
,
Ken Block and
Travis Pastrana
Travis Alan Pastrana (born October 8, 1983) is an American professional motorsports competitor and stunt performer who has won championships and X Games gold medals in several disciplines, including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, a ...
. The X Games Rally final saw Doran go head-to-head with
Marcus Grönholm
Marcus Ulf Johan Grönholm (born February 5, 1968) is a Finnish former rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming FIA World Rallycross Cha ...
, where he beat the former
WRC Champion to win the Gold Medal.
From his US success an opportunity arose to compete in the
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series
The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, also known as LOORRS, was a short course off-road racing series in the United States and also in Mexico beginning in 2015. The series featured events in Arizona, California, Nevada, Missouri and hosted a weeken ...
(LOORRS). Following an impressive performance in his first race he was offered the opportunity to drive in the series for 2012.
2012
With continued support from Monster Energy, Doran managed to achieve a second position in the 2012 European Rallycross Championship, concluding the season with a victory in Germany.
2013
With another full calendar scheduled and a new European rallycross team mate in 21-year-old Norwegian,
Andreas Bakkerud
Andreas Bakkerud (born 10 October 1991) is a rallycross driver from Bergen, Norway. He has competed in the FIA Rallycross Supercar class since 2013 in both Euro RX and World RX, and Nitro Rallycross since 2021. He became European Champion in 2021 ...
, LD Motorsports was one of the strongest teams in the 2013 season.
This was Doran's most successful year winning 3 XGames medals. Doran won a gold and silver at XGAMES Munich and a bronze at XGAMES Los Angeles.
2014
For
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
Doran raced a Citroën DS3 Supercar in the
FIA World Rallycross Championship
The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull and KW25). From the inaugural season in 2014 ...
. He contested the first 6 rounds and the final round of the season, finishing in 25th overall with 17 points. For the other 5 rounds he was later suspended from racing by his native autosport authority
MSA because of his bad behavior against some track marshalls during the home ERX round at Lydden Hill when his father's Ford RS200 caught fire. He made the finals stage once, in
Sweden, and finished fifth.
2015
For
2015, Doran continued in the World Rallycross Championship, this time combining with reigning World Champion
Petter Solberg
Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver.
Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg started ...
to create the SDRX team. He raced in all rounds excluding Germany where his car failed scrutineering. He scored points at seven events and failed to reach the final, finishing 16th in the standings on 35 points - 266 points behind his championship winning team-mate.
2016
Doran signed for
JRM Racing in
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
, contesting the WRX season with a Mini Countryman. Despite the car still being in its development phase, Doran took a shock win in his Semi-Final at the
2016 World RX of Hockenheim
The 2016 World RX of Hockenheim was the second round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship season, third season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. The event was held at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, along ...
- having made the Semis in the previous race in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. He failed to score in three of the next four events, before he was fired following a drunken altercation at
Gatebil prior to the Canadian round.
2017
Following his Gatebil incident, the governing body of motorsport in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
suspended Doran's racing license for 12 months, preventing his participation in the 2017 season.
2019
Returning for
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, finished 3rd at the Yas Marina Circuit, in the opening round.
Racing record
Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results
Division 1
Supercar
Complete Global RallyCross Championship results
Supercar
Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results
Supercar
a Loss of 15 championship points – stewards' decision
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doran, Liam
1987 births
Living people
British racing drivers
European Rallycross Championship drivers
World Rallycross Championship drivers
Global RallyCross Championship drivers
X Games athletes