With four UK cars, a growing number of regular Irish competitors, guest drivers and one-off appearances by additional Irish based cars, the final round of the Irish Time-Attack championship, set to take place at Mondello Jap-Fest on 6 September, will be the biggest event of its kind to be seen so far in Ireland.
Heading the Time-Attack line-up will be two Mitsubishi Evo’s from the UK Time-Attack championship, the RSE Motorsport Evo VII of Chris Ward and the Redbrick Racing version of Robin Duxbury. Both drivers are front-runners in the UK championship with Ward currently lying joint second in the Pro championship and Duxbury lying an even closer second in the Club-Pro class. Both drivers have been class winners this season in the highly competitive UK championship with Ward also taking an outright victory. The overseas entries will also be boosted by two more as yet unconfirmed cars.
Trying to uphold the honour of the Irish will be all of the regular Mondello Park championship front runners and some additional cars which have not been seen since last years Mondello Jap-Fest. The Irish championship is set for an exciting finale with the top three drivers covered by just one point. Brendan Stone with the TDP Evo and Brian Sexton with his JOMO example lead the chase with Robbie Thronthon’s Nissan Skyline just a single point behind. While the Irish championship battle will not be affected by the visiting UK and Irish cars, who will not be eligible to score championship points, all drivers will be fighting it out for the top step of the podium in the overall results.
In addition to the UK visitors the Mondello entry list will be boosted by guest competitors with some big names due to be released over the coming weeks. Last years Mondello Jap-Fest winning ‘Tuning Factory’ Honda CRX will also make its return to try and beat the visitors one-again, but will have a much tougher job this time around as the 2009 contingent are expected to put up a much stronger challenge.
Overall up to thirty cars are expected to appear in three classes. The UK cars and guest Irish entries will run in the Open Class while the regular Mondello Park championship runners will be split into the usual Pro Championship and Club Championship. For the last championship round the final will run as a single lap shoot out with each driver having just one flying lap to set their time. Prior to that will be practice and qualifying sessions, which will decide the running order for the final.
With a big crowd expected for the 2009 show spectators can avoid the queues and avail of discounted prices by booking in advance through the Mondello Park web-site, or by contacting the Mondello Park office. For information on all of the show attractions and competition entry forms, see www.mondellopark.ie.