ICCR - Mondello Park International - 14/15th September

Entering the final stretch of the 2024 season, the Leastone Racing Team made the short trip to Mondello Park last weekend as they took on a double header for both Formula Vee and Formula BOSS. It turned out to be an excellent weekend for the team, which saw them take 4 class wins, an overall podium and wrap up two championship titles with a round to spare!

Selco Hygiene Formula Vee Championship

Following a mid-season surge in form, Charlie Hart found himself at the top of the Ability IT Rookie championship heading into the Mondello double header. Right before the 22-car field took to the track for qualifying, the heavens opened, resulting in the drivers navigating almost monsoon-like conditions in search of the perfect racing line. Steadily chipping away in the tricky conditions, Charlie logged a lap time good enough for the mid-pack and more importantly, second in class.

Race 1

Conditions improved slightly for the first race, but it was still far from dry when the lights went out. Charlie made significant gains in the opening laps, closely following his championship rival Conor Melia as they advanced into the top ten. Unfortunately, the race was red-flagged on Lap 4 due to a car spinning and ending up in a dangerous position and given the time already elapsed, it was decided that there would be a 3-minute sprint to the finish.

Once the race resumed, a hectic first lap caused Charlie to lose positions overall, but he capitalised somewhat by slipping by Conor for the class lead in all the chaos. Due to the length of the international circuit and the weather-induced slower lap times, the race concluded following just 2 laps, with Charlie managing to secure another valuable class win.

Race 2 – Leinster Trophy

The sun was finally shining for the main event of the day, when the Vees hit the track to do battle for the prestigious Leinster Trophy.  Firing off from the 7th row, Charlie gained ground on the opening tour to slot into 10th overall, with Conor just ahead. The pair were locked together for the majority of the race, with some B class runners splitting them for short periods across the early laps.

Charlie had a few looks at making a move but was never really in a position to launch a proper attack, mindful that a 2nd place would still be very useful in his title quest. Unfortunately we were robbed of a proper battle in the closing stages, as Conor suffered a mechanical issue and was forced to pit on Lap 6 of the 8-lap event. With that, Charlie was able to have a comfortable run to the flag and take his 5th class win from 9 starts. At the head of the field, young hotshoe Ronan Doherty took a dominant victory to add his name to the illustrious list of Leinster Trophy winners.

Coupled with his championship rivals misfortune and his win, Charlie now has enough of a championship lead that means he will not be caught and he is now crowned the 2024 Ability IT Rookie champion. He follows in the footsteps of brother Max, who also secured the rookie championship for Leastone back in 2018!

Connolly’s Topline Formula BOSS Ireland

The Formula BOSS grid made their first appearance on a Saturday this year and BOSS3 championship leader Mark Reade preceded this with a solid days testing on Friday. The team were chipping away with incremental changes to try extract more grip out of the Leastone 1000 and while they ended Friday happy but got a little greedy overnight with an additional change that caused them to take a step backwards for qualifying. As a result, Reade struggled early on Saturday morning meaning he ended up at the back of the field and 2nd of the BOSS3 entries.

Race 1 – Holmpatrick Trophy

A reversion on settings for Race 1 had Mark much happier from the off and he jumped up into 6th overall, along with the BOSS3 lead. Apart from a battle with a World Series car in the middle of the race, it was a generally uneventful run to the flag for the Donore native as he secured maximum BOSS3 points at the end of the 10-lap event. In the battle for the Holmpatrick Trophy, Tony Greenan came out on top in his Formula 3, following an enjoyable battle with Jonathan Fildes and his Ralt on the opening lap.

Race 2

If Race 1 was a bit of a snooze for Mark, Race 2 was anything but! He maximized lap 1 to vault himself into 3rd place and thanks to the technical nature of the international layout, he was able to keep a train of more powerful machines at bay in the opening phase of the race. He managed to hold the F3 of Joe Courtney at arm’s length as the race past the half way mark and things got even more interesting when the World Series car of Martin Daly began to slip into Reades clutches.

Smelling a huge opportunity, Mark was super aggressive under braking to try set up a pass on Daly, briefly nosing ahead on the penultimate lap ,only to see the 3.5L machine blast back by on the main straight. It turned out to be a dress rehearsal for the last lap, where Reade used lessons learned from his previous attempt to pull off a monster pass that put just enough of a gap between him and Daly to negate the power delta, allowing him to snatch a popular runner up result for the little 1000cc machine.

Amid the excitement, he secured another BOSS3 class win and clinched the championship with 2 rounds left. This marks the first championship for the Leastone 1000 on home soil and the first BOSS3 championship for an Irish manufacturer.

In an exciting turn of events, Charlie will close out the Formula Vee season at Kirkistown on September 28th, while the team will forego the final BOSS Ireland round at Kirkistown, to travel to Zandvoort in Holland for 2 invitational races, before taking on the final rounds of the Monoposto Tiedeman Trophy at Silverstone on November 3rd.