ICCR - Mondello Park International - 6/7th July

The Leastone team had a jam packed weekend at Mondello Park last weekend, fielding cars across the Formula BOSS Ireland double header, in addition to the visiting Monoposto series triple header. Adding Round 7 of the Irish Formula Vee championship and there was little time for rest across the 2-day ICCR event!

Selco Hygiene Formula Vee Championship

Charlie Hart has been battling at the front of the Ability IT Rookie Championship during his debut season and with the championship leader absent, he was looking to take full advantage entering the weekend. This did not get off to an ideal start, with an engine failure early in testing severely limiting testing time. Thanks to a monumental effort by the team and Kevin Gillespie, Charlie was back on track for the final test session.

Still learning the track during qualifying, he ended up posting a time good enough for 2nd in class and 11th overall. His life was to be made even more difficult as greasy conditions greeted the field for the days one and only race but Charlie showed great maturity from the off, picking up places as he could and not overstepping the limit. He steadily chipped away over the 15-minute race, elevating himself to 8th overall and more importantly, securing the Ability IT Rookie class win in the process.

Team Manager Paul Heavey was happy with the result: ‘Great to see Charlie take the class win in such challenging conditions. He really used his head and, as has been apparent throughout the year, he is driving well beyond his years. It should make the championship run in quite interesting, but championship leader Conor Melia is driving extremely well. We just must make sure Charlie has the tools at his disposal’

Monoposto

Race 1

Brendan O’Brien and David Heavey returned to the cockpit for the Monoposto non championship rounds, hoping to put track knowledge to good use. They locked out the 2nd row for Saturday’s race and a brief shower before the green flag meant a drying track had to be navigated in the opening laps. They took advantage and jumped to 2nd and 3rd, falling in behind fellow Irish competitor Karl O‘Brien in his F3. The race was red flagged with just 6 of the 20 minutes elapsed and at the restart, they again slotted into 2nd and 3rd, prior to Heavey going off road and dropping to 4th in the process. This left Brendan to follow home son Karl for a family 1-2.

Race 2

Race 2 saw drama for the team before the cars even took the green flag. Heavey had damaged his fuel tank from Saturdays off, which only became apparent on Sunday morning and the team were struggling to plug a leak as the cars were called to assembly. He rolled out of the awning and managed to line up for a pit lane start, just as the field completed their warmup lap.

From his front row start, Brendan was harrying the leader throughout the first few laps and managed to snatch the lead as it began to drizzle before the race reached half distance. Partially thanks to the smaller grid, Heavey had pulled himself up to 3rd by lap 2 but was some 6 seconds behind the lead battle. He benefitted from the leaders battling, along with the changeable conditions and he managed to reel them in and grab the lead from Brendan. Unfortunately, Brendan then suffered a spin in the ever-worsening conditions and despite a quick recovery, it left Heavey with a sizeable gap to manage over the remainder of the race and bring home a Leastone 1-2.

Race 3

The weather played havoc in advance of Race 3, with a deluge hitting the track prior to the cars heading for assembly. Such was the intensity, all of the grid rolled up on wets but with the track temperature quite high, they underestimated the time it would take for the track to dry. By the time the cars took the green flag lap, the track was mostly dry!

Brendan and Dave jumped to an early lead, running side by side through turns 1 and 2 before Heavey dropped in behind his teammate. They would hold position for the opening phase of the race but Heaveys pace began to drop and he slipped to 3rd before Brendan suffered an engine failure a few laps later. Nursing his tyres at that point, this left Heavey a lonely 2nd on the run to the flag.

Connolly’s Topline Formula BOSS Ireland

The weather continued to be a pain by the time the BOSS competitors rolled out of pitlane for qualifying. The team put Mark on wets to begin with but took advantage of a red flag mid-way through the session to swap him onto slicks, despite parts of the track still being damp. When the session went green, Reade suffered an electrical fault that kept killing the engine when 1st gear was selected. The team quickly diagnosed the issue, but it left him with only 3 flying laps. The lack of track time was less of an issue compared to fully dry conditions, as the track was drying with each lap. Mark maximized the opportunity to grab BOSS3 pole, by almost 1.5 seconds.

Race 1

Mark got a good start when the lights went out and was embroiled in a 3-way battle for 5th overall, and leading BOSS3 runner. This entertaining battle continued for the duration of the race, with Mark tripping over the more powerful lead car at times, thanks to the nimbleness of the Leastone through the twisty stuff. During this battle, he managed to set the fastest BOSS3 lap of the weekend. However, he lost the class lead on the penultimate lap. Nevertheless, he took class victory after the new leader encountered an issue on the final tour.

Race 2

Another good start saw him hold the class lead off the line but it was apparent that all was not well with the Leastone with a misfire creeping in. He lost the class lead as the field headed onto the ‘new’ circuit but would retire at the end of the lap with a fuel pump failure.

‘We still struggle against the Jedis due to the weight difference, much the same as in Mono 1000 the last few years. But we had eyes wide open coming into BOSS this year, that’s what makes the class great because you can be racing against anything. Where else would you see an Irish built, homemade 1000cc machine battling a Formula Renault World Series beast!’ joked Deputy Team Manager David Heavey post-race. ‘It was nice for Mark to sneak a win, albeit due to Kayleighs misfortune with the flag on the last lap. Was shaping up to be a good battle again in the second race too so it’s annoying that mechanical failure intervened. Still, he set the fastest BOSS3 lap all weekend so it shows he’s hustling the thing!’

Attention now turns to Kirkistown for rounds 9 & 10 of the BOSS championship, where the grid will do battle for the prestigious Malcolm Templeton Trophy. Despite being somewhat hamstrung around the ultra fast former airfield, Reade still managed to engage in some thrilling battles during the series' last visit at the end of June and aims to carry over that performance for the upcoming rounds.