Round 4 & 5 – 2010

TWO WINS FOR TRACEY IN HECTIC DOUBLE-HEADER

Words: Stephen Errity

Images: Ed Fahey

Westward Engineering’s Martin Tracey solidified his position at the top of the ITCC standings today with victory in two action-packed races at Mondello Park. Behind him, there were overall podium places for Rookie Cup drivers Ciaran Timmons and Tom Fahy, as well as strong performances from James Hughes and Thomas O’Rourke. A partially reversed grid in the second race and constantly changing weather conditions throughout ensured the action didn’t let up for a second.

Qualifying

Heavy rain in the morning meant the ITCC competitors faced a damp track at the start of qualifying, but the extremely warm and humid conditions meant the track was expected to dry out quickly. Thomas O’Rourke was the early pace-setter, putting down a marker of 1:03.8, but this was soon pipped by Barry Rabbitt in the Tuning Factory Honda Integra, who went a tenth quicker. Amongst the rookies, Jonathan Brady was showing strongly in fourth for much of the session in the older Tuning Factory car. About halfway through the session, Rabbitt brought the pole time down to 1:03 flat, before demonstrating that the track had almost completely dried out by dipping into the 1:01s.

With a dry line forming, Martin Tracey elected to change the wet tyres on his Sierra Cosworth for slicks, and snuck in a 1:03 lap at the chequered flag to line up in second, alongside Rabbitt on the front row. O’Rourke clinched third, just ahead of Brady, who was the top qualifying Rookie Cup driver in fourth. Behind him, Philip Burdock qualified a strong sixth in his Westward-tuned Honda Civic, followed closely behind by James Hughes. Donal Arundel, driving the unusual Mazda MX-6 piloted by Piaras MacFheorais at the last ITCC round, was eighth, while behind him Rookie Cup points leader Stephen Maher qualified in the top 10 in his first running of his new BMW 3-Series Compact racer.

The top 10 was completed by David Walsh in his Nissan Silvia, while round sponsor Tom Fahy was 11th. After him came the Peugeots of James Collen and Ciaran Timmons, the VW Golf of David Clarke, Paul Cinelli in his Honda Civic and Phil Brennan in the Octane.ie Rover 25. Gareth Hayden qualified 17th, just ahead of Brian Sexton, who unfortunately blew the turbo in the JOMO Engineering VW Corrado he had borrowed for the day. The grid was completed by Brian’s fellow JOMO racer Chris O’Connor, Mondello man Philip Lawless, rallycross driver Fergal Bowes, James Mannion in a near-standard Honda Integra and Noel Collins, who was hampered by a broken rev counter on his Zetec-engined Ford Escort, the first ‘retro’ car to be seen in the ITCC. Keith Campbell was unfortunately put out of contention early on in the day due to mechanical issues with his Honda-engined VW Corrado, while Fran Kearns was unable to qualify due to a mix-up with his racing license, but then generously handed over his Civic for Sexton to use in the races.

STARTING GRID

1 Barry Rabbitt // Tuning Factory Honda Integra // 1:01.770

2 Martin Tracey // Westward Eng Ford Sierra // 1:03.135

3 Thomas O’Rourke // Opel Astra // 1:03.624

4 Jonathan Brady [R] // Tuning Factory Honda Integra // 1:04.303

5 Robbie Thornton // TDP.ie Mitsubishi Lancer Evo // 1:04.350

6 Philip Burdock // Honda Civic // 1:05.306

7 James Hughes // 32Tuning.com Honda Integra // 1:06.711

8 Donal Arundel // Mazda MX-6 // 1:06.972

9 Stephen Maher [R] // BMW 3-Series Compact // 1:07.438

10 David Walsh // Nissan Silvia // 1:07.891

11 Tom Fahy // Fahy’s Garage Honda Integra // 1:07.904

12 James Collen [R] // Peugeot 306 // 1:08.023

13 Ciaran Timmons [R] // Peugeot 205 // 1:08.123

14 David Clarke // VW Golf // 1:08.160

15 Paul Cinelli [R] // Honda Civic // 1:08.286

16 Phil Brennan [R] // Octane.ie Rover 25 // 1:08.320

17 Gareth Hayden [R] // Honda Integra // 1:08.568

18 Brian Sexton // JOMO Engineering VW Corrado // 1:08.961

19 Chris O’Connor // JOMO Engineering Peugeot 106 // 1:08.919

20 Philip Lawless // Opel Corsa // 1:09.202

21 Fergal Bowes // Peugeot 306 // 1:09.502

22 James Mannion [R] // Cutting Edge Tiles Honda Integra // 1:09.875

23 Noel Collins // Ford Escort // 1:09.971

24 John Reilly [R] // Subaru Impreza // 1:21.278

Race One

Further rain fell between the end of qualifying and the start of Race One, presenting the ITCC field with a greasy start/finish straight from which to make a quick getaway. Martin Tracey had a lot of wheelspin off the line, but held second place behind a fast-starting Barry Rabbitt as the field passed through turns one and two without major incident. Back in the pack, Philip Burdock caught and passed Thomas O’Rourke and Stephen Maher pulled off a great overtaking move around the outside of two cars at Honda corner. Noel Collins then put his Escort into the gravel at Dunlop, but the race continued, with Burdock now closing fast on third-place man Jonathan Brady. Within a couple of laps, Rabbitt seemed to be pulling away at the head of the field and O’Rourke lost another place, this time to James Hughes, but the red flags came out when Chris O’Connor lost his Peugeot 106 under braking for the Esses and tore a wheel off while skidding over a kerb.

The rain had stopped by the time his car had been recovered, but in the meantime, Phil Brennan had retired from the race with a broken engine mount, and Collins had rejoined. On the restart, both O’Rourke and James Collen made good getaways, but the race had to be stopped again when Brady locked up his brakes while diving down the inside at Honda, triggering a chain reaction that saw Fergal Bowes crash into Collen and Hughes pushed into the bank, leaving debris scattered on the track. Before the second restart, Burdock was black-flagged due to a loose fuel tank, and O’Rourke retired with driveshaft failure. After the restart, Tracey and Brady kept within sight of Rabbitt, until Brady locked up and went straight on at turn one. His efforts until then had not been totally in vain, however, as they earned him the race’s ‘Hard Charger’ award. Rain was now falling once again, and Hughes was the next driver to get caught out by the conditions, when his car got away from him at the exit of Dunlop, resulting in accidental contact with Donal Arundel. The drama continued as Brian Sexton ended up in the gravel at turn one while trying to avoid another car, and the race would end under a safety car after Rabbitt’s Integra’s oil filter failed on the main straight, snatching victory from him with only minutes to go and handing Tracey his third win of the season.

The final order saw two Rookie Cup drivers on the podium: Ciaran Timmons, who emerged battered but intact from the hectic midfield skirmishes; and a delighted round sponsor Tom Fahy, who credited his car’s performance to plenty of hard work in the previous day’s test session. Mondello Park employee Philip Lawless showed the potential of the infamous ‘eBay Corsa’ in fourth place, just ahead of James Mannion, who made up several places at each restart and stayed out of trouble to come home fifth and take the final Rookie Cup podium place. Further down the field, Maher was running fifth until a spin at Honda on the last lap put him down the order, behind ninth-place finisher Paul Cinelli, who would start the second race from pole when the grid was reversed.

RACE ONE RESULT:

1 Martin Tracey

2 Ciaran Timmons [R]

3 Tom Fahy [R]

4 Philip Lawless

5 James Mannion [R]

6 Jonathan Brady [R]

7 David Clarke [R]

8 James Hughes

9 Paul Cinelli [R]

10 Stephen Maher [R]

11 David Walsh

12 Donal Arundel

13 Noel Collins

14 John Reilly [R]

Race Two

The day’s second race would also be rain-hit, but several drivers gambled on slicks, hoping it would clear up. Barry Rabbitt started the Tuning Factory Integra from the pitlane, while on the track, second-place starter James Hughes got away very well, as did renowned ‘demon starter’ Thomas O’Rourke. As expected, Martin Tracey made good progress through the field, helped by new suspension parts on his Sierra fitted since the last event. On the second lap, Rabbitt was hit by James Collen at the exit of Honda, spinning him into the path of Tom Fahy, whose car was too badly damaged to continue after the incident. After the race, Collen was reprimanded by the stewards for his actions and had points applied to his racing license. Up front, O’Rourke was gaining rapidly on Jonathan Brady, but behind them, Philip Burdock was driving a storming race in his Honda Civic, passing Paul Cinelli and quickly closing the gap to O’Rourke. David Walsh was then forced to park his Silvia beside the main straight after contact with another car punctured one of his front tyres. Burdock then passed O’Rourke to take third place and set about hunting down Hughes, who was also impressing by holding on to his second place from the grid.

Meanwhile, it was all kicking off in the midfield as Brian Sexton, Donal Arundel, Ciaran Timmons and Cinelli circulated close together. The latter would go on to win the Rookie Cup in this race, despite struggling with slicks on the front. Elsewhere, Dave Clarke was caught out on the wrong tyres as the rain got heavier, and he ended up in the gravel at Honda. Brady then went straight on at Honda for the second time in as many races, while up front, Tracey eased off as the clock would down to the flag. The opposite was true for Burdock however, who caught Hughes at Dunlop and then passed him at Honda, but his charge was brought to a premature end when his water pump belt broke off and the engine began to overheat. He had done enough, though, to earn the ‘Hard Charger’ gong when the awards were handed out at the end of the day. Tracey thus cruised to his second win of the day, even allowing himself an exuberant slide around Dunlop on the last lap, while Hughes was overjoyed to finish second after the tribulations of race one. O’Rourke took the final podium spot, just holding off a late attack from Arundel, while Sexton and Rabbitt both staged fighting recovery drives to finish fifth and sixth respectively.

RACE TWO RESULT:

1 Martin Tracey

2 James Hughes

3 Thomas O’Rourke

4 Donal Arundel

5 Brian Sexton

6 Barry Rabbitt

7 Philip Lawless

8 Paul Cinelli [R]

9 Ciaran Timmons [R]

10 Jonathan Brady [R]

11 James Mannion [R]

12 James Collen [R]

13 Noel Collins

14 Gareth Hayden [R]

15 Stephen Maher

16 Phil Brennan [R]