2024 Season Wrap Up

Irish Formula Vee

For the 2024 season, Leastone Racing enlisted Charlie Hart, brother of the 2018 Finol Star of Tomorrow, Max Hart. Charlie competed in the Ability IT Solutions Rookie championship, which comprised 10 rounds held at Mondello Park, Kirkistown, and Bishopscourt. Although he opted to skip the opening round at Kirkistown, Charlie secured a podium finish on his debut in Round 2 at Mondello. He achieved his first victory in Bishopscourt during just his second start.

Throughout the following rounds, Charlie continued to perform strongly, earning multiple podium finishes. In the latter half of the year, he demonstrated remarkable form by winning four consecutive races, ultimately securing the rookie title with one round remaining. With the championship pressure alleviated, he achieved another class win in the final round at Kirkistown, bringing his total victories for the year to six. Charlie's overall pace improved consistently over the course of the season, concluding 2024 as a credible top-five contender, and closely challenging the series' most seasoned competitors.

Charlie Hart – Ability IT Solutions Rookie Champion / 228 points / 6 class wins, 9 podiums

Formula BOSS Ireland

2017 UK Monoposto Champion Mark Reade returned to the driving seat for 2024, spearheading Leastones first home campaign with the Leastone 1000. Reade took on the Formula BOSS field, with the aim of taking the BOSS3 class title, which is dedicated for machines with power units up to 1600cc. But his real ambition was always going to be battling with the bigger machines and have the 1000 punch well above its weight in an overall field that boasts Formula 3 and 3.5L World Series cars, both proven routes to Formula 1 in the past. 

He chose to miss the opening rounds in Mondello but commenced his season at Bishopscourt with two class victories. He achieved similar success in Kirkistown in June; however, the characteristics of both Bishopscourt and Kirkistown circuits did not allow him to fully leverage the agility of the 1000 for an unexpected result. 

The second half of the season included 6 rounds at Mondello Park. Reade and the team worked on improving their pace through various setup changes due to the limited experience with the 1000 in Ireland, as most of their competitive miles had been in the UK.

Reade was a consistent top 5 runner on the technical Kildare track and put an exclamation point on his season by becoming the first BOSS3 runner to score an overall podium in Round 12, following a thrilling battle. Despite electing to miss first and last rounds, Reade took a convincing title victory in the BOSS3 class. 

Mark Reade – Connollys Topline Hardware BOSS3 Champion / 140 points / 7 class wins, 1 overall podium

UK Monoposto

The team did take a step back from UK Monoposto in 2024 but they did field cars in a non-championship event the series held in Mondello Park and also the final round of the year at Silverstone in November.

David Heavey and Brendan O’Brien made brief returns to the cockpit at Mondello, successfully securing four trophies between them. The duo achieved M1000 honours in Races 1 and 2 of the weekend, with Heavey obtaining an overall win in Race 2. O’Brien appeared poised to match his teammate's performance in Race 3, but an engine failure thwarted his ambitions. Heavey upheld team honour by winning the M1000 category and finishing second overall, ending the weekend on a high note.

Paul Heavey came out of retirement once again, this time to achieve his goal of racing at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. In a competitive field, he secured pole position for his debut race at the Dutch Grand Prix venue and followed with a podium finish. However, electrical issues hindered his ability to fully leverage the Leastone 1000’s capabilities in subsequent races. Despite the challenges, he was happy with his return to the track.

Following his Rookie Title achievement, Charlie Hart participated in the final Monoposto round at Silverstone. He generated significant attention by qualifying 9th overall in a field of 19 cars, becoming the top M1000 qualifier. Hart's impressive performance continued as he surged to P3 on the opening lap under challenging greasy conditions. Despite being surrounded by F3 cars and facing substantial challenges to maintain his position, he demonstrated remarkable skill by finishing in an impressive 7th place. Unfortunately, in Race 2, a mechanical issue forced him to stop on Lap 1, but Hart expressed satisfaction with his overall performance, particularly given that he missed the pre-race test day on Friday.

Silverstone marked the final event for the team before they headed into a well deserved break. Well, before the off season rebuilds commence! As always, we extend our deepest gratitude to all of our sponsors for their invaluable support throughout the 2024 season. We look forward to achieving even greater success together in 2025!