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[Irish Motorsport] Supercars and Abarth's Headline Mondello Championship Event |
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Monday, 27 June 2005 |
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Supercars and Abarth's Headline Mondello Championship Event
The Dunlop supported Supercar and Fiat Abarth Cup classes will headline this weekends MEC organised national championship car races at Mondello Park. Double headers for both classes will be supported by a healthy mix of single seater, sports car ads saloon races in a thirteen race programme.
The Supercars have proved to be a Jonathan Fildes benefit so far in 2005 with the ex-champion returning from two seasons racing in the UK to re-establish himself as the man to beat in Irish saloon racing. His closet challenger last time around Mondello was another ex champ Johnny Whelan who currently languishes down in fifth place in the points due to some non finishes. Rod McGovern currently lies second in the title hunt from the ever improving George Rogers.
Of late the Abarth Cup has turned into a Derek Graham benefit with the Ulsterman moving into a strong championship lead courtesy of a string of victories at Mondello Park, Anglesey and Kirkistown with only Barry Rabbitt breaking the sequence when he took a win in race two in Wales. Quentin Smith lies second in the championship standings followed by the vastly experienced Gordon Kellett with both still looking for their first win of the season.
Sunday's event will see all classes compete in two races apart from the combined Fiat Punto & Uno race which is an additional race added to the programme to replace the race which had to be cancelled at Mondello's last event. The resurgent Formula Ford championship races in Kildare for the second time in two weeks and should see a repeat of the furious multi car lead dices seen recently.
Another class on the up is the Porsche Challenge which pits Porsches of various types and vintage against each other in a number of classes. The series is only in it's second year but already it is starting to gain popularity with competitors and spectators alike.
Mondello's Formula Libre initiative is beginning to pay off with growing numbers of single seaters and sports cars tuning out. Dan Daly's F3000 Reynard and the Hillclimb Lant of Simon McKinley will continue their high speed battle for supremacy at Mondello on Sunday with both drivers capable of stunning 52 second lap times. The Global Lights, which will join the Libre grid and the Stryker Sports Cars will provide their usual brand of close Sportscar action and the programme will be completed by the Fiat Punto and Uno race.
With a very busy programme racing starts unusually early with the first of the FF1600 races scheduled for 11:20. Admission is
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