Mondello National Circuit – Rounds 9 & 10 Reports

Fawcett takes the lead in Touring while Tracey extends his in Super.

Word: Paul Healy

Pics: Anthony Levingston

After the trip to Kirkistown it was time for the Irish Touring Car Championship to return to its natural home of the Mondello Park National circuit. The race weekend started for most on Saturday for free testing and judging by some of the reports there were a lot of quick times set by all those involved. Even this late in the season there was a lot of new faces and cars in the paddock coming race day with twin brothers Brian and Paul Fitzpatrick out in a Honda Integra and Ian Beatty’s old Vauxhall Corsa respectively. Joining them was Paul Donnan in the ex-Mondello Rover 25, Timothy Duggan in a SEAT Ibiza, Phil Lawless (normally seen in a Peugeot) driving a Mazda Mx6 and Denis Callanan and Billy White in two cars normally seen at drifting event – a Nissan Silvia and Toyota Corolla AE86.

During qualifying all eyes were on the front runners in the touring class. This far into the season the prospect of breaking the barrier time and being moved upto Super Touring would destroy the championship aspirations of many. And having seen the times set during Saturday testing and element of tactical ‘sandbagging’ was expected with the drivers even joking about it during scrutineering. In the end only Brian Fitzpatrick (fourth overall) and Fran Kearns(sixth overall) broke the 64.5 sec barrier and were moved up to Super Touring. This meant that championship lead Robert Savage would line up on pole with Eric Carroll and John Kelly providing a buffer between him and main challenger Norman Fawcett. Just under 0.090 separated the Impreza of Mark Nangle and the Civic of ‘Danny boy’ Calnan while having adjusted the rear end of the Rover to reign it in a bit Paul Donnan got the better of the young Cian Carey. Billy white completed the second most amount of laps during qualifying and his time of 1:07.058 was good enough to see him finish ahead of Phil Lawless, Keith Campbell and Timothy Duggan.

Some aerodynamic tweaks to his Integra saw Gareth Hayden get the better of the fire breathing Silvia piloted by Denis Callanan but he could do nothing about the season long battle in front of him between Phil Brennan and Martin Tracey with the Enfield man finally coming home with the spoils.

When the lights went out though it was Brennan who got the better start and he led the field around through the firs series of corners. However with three cars stranded on the grid having failed to make it away from the line the session was red flagged. With the field sent around again for a formation lap Billy White’s car was being worked on furiously just below the control tower to get it back out and some sterling work from his pit crew saw him take to the pit exit with seconds to spare.

This time when the red lights went out Tracey was better prepared, leading the field on the run down to Honda. Phil Brennan was more concerned with holding off a fast starting Gareth Hayden to concentrate on the Sierra though but ultimately it was Hayden who lost out as Denis Callnan took advantage of the battle ahead to sneak past Hayden through turn two. As the drivers emerged back from the trip down to Bridge stone though Hayden had recaptured the position and set off in pursuit of the BMW of Brennan. Having moved up to Super Touring Kearns and Brian Fitzpatrick were having their own personal battle that saw some great, competitive but clean driving from both competitors. For ten laps the two fought tooth and nail for every inch of the track but try as he might Kearns could not find a way past meaning Fitzpatrick took the final podium position. Afterwards both drivers congratulated each other in the paddock and showed the rest of the field that a move up in class is not the end of the world.

Back on track a mistake from Hayden in the Sportchip.ie Integra saw him drop back to ninth overall, right in the middle of the Touring class. Without the Honda filling his mirrors Phil Brennan could concentrate on Tracey in front of him and began to punch in some fast laps, culminating in a 1:02.004, to close the gap between the two drivers. Whether Martin got a signal from his pit crew or he sensed that Brennan was closing is unclear but he responded by turning the screws a little bit further and posting some fast times himself with the quickest, a 1:01.666, being the fastest time of the race. The increased pace seemed to have an affect on Brennan’s car as over the last few laps there was some smoke pouring out of the rear end but it was intermittent and did not affect his times but in the end he finished just over three seconds adrift of the RS500.

In the Touring class Norman Fawcett got a storming start from the second row of the grid to be along side pole sitter Robert Savage by the time the reached Honda corner. The two cars were side by side as they went around turn one giving Fawcett a better line for the Adelaide kink and once past the BRacing prepared car just romped away into the distance and was soon running towards the tail end of the Super Touring class. This set up an enthralling battle between Savage and Erick Carroll for the second step on the podium. The two Integras were bumper to bumper for the entire race with neither driver able to make a telling advantage. Then with the flag in sight the two drivers contacted with Carroll coming off the benefactor, taking second place. The Integra battle was not the only one happening in Touring with Danny Calnan and Mark Nangle having their own titanic struggle. The characteristics of the Honda Civic and RWD Subaru Impreza could not be further apart but the cars seemed perfectly matched to each other with Nangle’s Impreza having the power advantage but Calnan’s Civic the handling. In the end power won out though as with Calnan’s tyres past their best Nangle snuck by to claim fourth. Paul Donnan impressed in his first outing to bring his Rover home sixth after managing to hold off the fast improving Cian Carey with Billy White the final finisher.

After the race Denis Callanan was disqualified from the race for his Nissan Silvia being underweight. This took away what would have been a podium finish on his first outing. Despite initial disappointment Callanan quickly b

rushed himself off and prepared for the next round.

The reverse grid saw Super Touring newcomers, Fran Kearns and Brian Fitzpatrick lining up at the head of the field and it looked like the two drivers knew they could not compete with the big guns and effectively relinquished their positions by the time the field headed out towards Bridgestone. Kearns later admitted that he had no interest in vainly trying to fend off the likes ofTracey and Hayden and was more interested in picking up where he left off in the last round and battle with Fitzpatrick. Gareth Hayden was the early benefactor as he had an easier time getting past the class newcomers and managed to open up a bit of a gap between himself and a chasing Phil Brennan. Tracey was not far behind though and the power of the Cosworth saw him pick off those in front of him seemingly at will. With his mirrors full of the ominous black Ford Gareth Hayden put in some great driving with some immense defensive moves but once the two cars rounded Dunlop Tracey just opened up the taps and went past the Integra unchallenged. Once he had opened up enough of a gap Tracey backed off and eased his Sierra home to his second victory of the day.

Behind him the David and Goliath battle between Hayden’s Integra and Brennan’s BMW mirrored that of Calnan’s and Nangle’s in the Touring class with each car having an advantage over certain parts of the track but neither able to make that advantage tell. Hayden appeared to have done enough to take second place but on the run up to the line and with back markers in front of him he inexplicably lifted off which saw Brennan shoot out of his slipstream and dive for the line. In the end all that separated the two drivers was 0.048 of a second, a gap so small that I cannot quantify it, with the timing equipment showing that Hayden had held on for second place. The fight between Kearns and Fitzpatrick was brought to an early end when the baby blue Civic pulled into the pit lane with driveshaft damage.

Having broken the barrier time in the first race Robert Savage was relegated to the back of the grid for race two and with main championship rival, Norman Fawcett, ahead of him on the track ‘Mr Consistent’ had the grit between his teeth. As the lights went out Paul Donnann and Anthony Murtagh made good starts from the front row of the grid but soon found themselves swamped by the fast Honda drivers behind them and it wasn’t long until Fawcett made his way to the front of the pack with Danny Calnan for company. As the laps ticked off though Stormin managed too eek out a gap over Danny Boy that he did not relinquish meaning he would be leaving Mondello with two race wins under his belt. As he watched Norman bound off into the distance Savage was busy picking his way through the field. At various points he had a dice with everybody but the main battle was with Anthony Murtagh in the 1.8T Corrado. Murtagh’s car was sporting a freshly fitted diff and it transformed his fortunes. He was a bit wild through the Essess but Savage could never really take advantage. He finally made a move along the straight but Murtagh fought back and out broke the Integra driver into Honda corner to reclaim the position. However once the engine in Keith Campbell’s Corrado decided to give up the ghost and lay down a line of oil between the start finish line and the first corner the inevitable finally happened and Savage made his way past.

The oil slick caught out Cian Carey who ended up in the gravel trap at the outside of turn one and Mark Nangle was braver under braking than Erick Carroll to rob fourth place from him. Even without the oil Carroll would have given up the position as shortly afterwards his front left tyre disintegrated and he was lucky to bring the car home in ninth position. Carroll’s ill fortune was to White’s and Donnan’s benefit as they caught and past the lame Honda in the closing stages of the race to finish their first race weekend with a seventh and eighth finish respectively behind John Kelly in the Sportchip.ie 206. The drama was not over though as with Savage gaining on Calnan in the closing stages we were all set for a grandstand finish but none of us could have expected the matter to be settled in a drag race for the line with a mere 0.078 of a second separated them with Savage managing to get his nose over the line first.

From the smile on the drivers faces  the buzz around the paddock and exciting edge of your seat track action,this was great day for Itcc and it supporters don’t miss the next installment on the 24th July .