ICCR Rd 5 - Formula BOSS - 2nd October

Photos by CregorNews.com

Mark Reade made a successful return to the driving seat at Mondello Park last weekend when he joined the Formula BOSS grid for the final two rounds of their championship around the National layout.

With only a handful of laps in dry conditions during testing, Reade was still shaking off the rust during Sunday mornings qualifying session but logged a very respectable time during the 15 minutes of running. Given the calibre of the machinery on the BOSS grid, it was always going to be difficult to challenge the top half of the grid, but he would line up on the 5th row for Race 1.

Race 1

He made a decent getaway, especially considering this was his first race start in the 1000 since 2018 and looked to take advantage of some of the bigger machinery on cold tyres. He was involved in a spirited battle with some F3 and Renault World Series machines before the field strung out and he looked to settle into a rhythm and chip away at his lap times.

Gaining confidence with each lap, he would secure a top six finish, all while banging in some impressively consistent lap times.

Reade had been struggling with understeer all weekend, so the team were introducing a raft of changes each time he hit the track. Not ideal, but given the weekend that was in it, he was enjoying the challenge.

Race 2

He would start net 8th for Race 2 and once again made hay during the early laps, when everyone was struggling for grip. Race 2 then followed a very similar pattern to the first event of the day, and once the bigger machines got everything up to temperature, they were able to power past the little 1000. Not that Mark made it overly easy for them, he enjoyed some good battles along the way!

He would again come home 6th, completing an impressive weekend for both him and the car. That now puts a bow on the 2022 season – unless the boss decides to take in any of the remaining Tiedeman Trophy events with Monoposto!