Mondello Park SC Rallycross (RX) - Mondello - 5 Feb 17

Tohill wins Irish Rallycross Championship opener at new-look Mondello

Posted: February 16, 2017 2:25 PM

Reigning Irish Rallycross Champion Derek Tohill began preparations for racing in the FIA European Rallycross Championship this season by winning the first round of IRX at Mondello Park, where for the first time ever the rallycross circuit ran in an anti-clockwise direction.

Fastest in each session on track, the PFCRX team won the Supercar final and Superfinal at its most local event, while continuing to develop its OlsbergsMSE-built Ford Fiesta Supercar, having finished the winter rebuild on the machine on Saturday afternoon.

Two-time FIA European Rallycross Champion Tohill also spent time reacquainting himself with the 600 horsepower Fiesta Supercar, having spent four days driving the team's title-winning rear-wheel drive Ford Fiesta TouringCar at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham last month, where the 50th anniversary of rallycross was celebrated in the Live Action Arena in front of tens of thousands of people.

Using the day at Mondello as an extended test session as well as putting on a display for the impressively large crowd at Mondello, the PFCRX team will now work to make further improvements to the car ahead of the next round of the Irish Championship next month (March 5), and the opening round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship that takes place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Formula 1 venue in Spain on the first weekend of April (1 - 2).

Derek Tohill | Driver | Ford Fiesta #111
"There was a really good atmosphere at Mondello, and it was a great test for us. The engine only fired up on Saturday, it was a pretty big effort to get everything ready - I think we had every international carrier arrive with express deliveries in the last few days before the event - it was really tight.

I was really pleased with how the car felt, it's always hard to judge where you are when you're at the front, especially as there are no previous lap times for that layout of the circuit, but it felt very good from the inside and people thought it looked better from the outside too, but we'll wait and see.

Mountune were very helpful on the engine side as usual and overall we are all a lot happier with the car. We had a few small installation problems that we can address in the next few weeks, but we have a month to do that now and at this stage it feels like we will be going to Barcelona for the European Championship opener in a good place, but I'm sure everybody else will be well prepared too.

The focus is absolutely on the European Championship this season, but we will support the Irish Championship as much as possible, and the intention is definitely to compete at the joint British and Irish event in July. The reverse-direction layout of Mondello is fantastic; it's been a lot of work for everybody involved but that has been rewarded. There was some great racing in the classes and I think it's a really big boost for the championship, which is heading in the right direction."

Results

Posted: February 6, 2017 6:01 AM

SUPER FINAL:
1 Derek Tohill (Ford Fiesta Mk 7) 3m 59.34s,
2 Noel Greene (Mitsubishi Mirage) 4m 17.77s,
3 Willie Coyne (Opel Corsa) 4m 21.86s,
4 Tommy Graham (Ford Escort) 4m 27.79s,
5 Lloyd Spendlove (Lotus Exige) 4m 30.34s,
6 Brian Grealish (Honda Civic) 4m 39.17s.

SUPERCAR FINAL:
1 Derek Tohill (Ford Fiesta Mk 7) 4m 07.02s,
2 Noel Greene (Mitsubishi Mirage) 4m 26.91s.

MODIFIED FINAL:
1 Willie Coyne (Opel Corsa) 4m 21.83s,
2 Padraig Leeson (Opel Corsa) 4m 26.15s,
3 Tommy Graham (Ford Escort) 4m 27.87s,
4 Lloyd Spendlove (Lotus Exige) 4m 30.08s,
5 Brian Grealish (Honda Civic) 4m 45.68s.

MODIFIED SEMI-FINAL 1:
1 Tommy Graham (Ford Escort) 4m 23.61s,
2 Willie Coyne (Opel Corsa) 4m 23.91s,
3 Richard Burns (Citroen C2) 5m 07.51s.

MODIFIED SEMI-FINAL 2:
1 Padraig Leeson (Opel Corsa) 4m 27.97s,
2 Lloyd Spendlove (Lotus Exige) 4m 29.46s,
3 Brian Grealish (Honda Civic) 4m 40.92s.

PRODUCTION FINAL:
1 Ciaran Murphy (Peugeot 205) 4m 44.58s,
2 Keith Kerrshaawe (Peugeot 106) 4m 45.13s,
3 Damian Farrell (Peugeot 205) 4m 55.90s,
4 Adrian Farrell (Peugeot 205) 4m 56.18s,
5 Eugene Ward (Peugeot 106) 4m 56.89s,
6 Leigh Anne Sedgwick (Citroen Saxo) 4m 57.94s.

PRODUCTION SEMI-FINAL 1:
1 Ciaran Murphy (Peugeot 205) 4m 46.91s,
2 Adrian Farrell (Peugeot 205) 4m 55.47s,
3 Eugene Ward (Peugeot 106) 4m 57.42s.

PRODUCTION SEMI-FINAL 2:
1 Keith Kerrshaawe (Peugeot 106) 4m 48.02s,
2 Damian Farrell (Peugeot 205) 4m 51.30s,
3 Leigh Anne Sedgwick (Citroen Saxo) 5m 01.61s.

RALLY CARS FINAL:
1 Danny Calnan (Opel Corsa) 4m 31.63s,
2 Thomas O'Rafferty (Vauxhall Nova) 4m 44.57s,
3 Pat Murphy (Peugeot 205) 4m 48.37s,
4 Jack Deegan (Peugeot 205) 4m 50.17s,
5 Jason Keogh (Peugeot 205) 4m 50.55s,
6 P J Doyle (Peugeot 205) 4m 56.99s.

RALLY CARS SEMI-FINAL 1:
1 Danny Calnan (Opel Corsa) 4m 30.25s,
2 Jack Deegan (Peugeot 205) 4m 39.45s,
3 Jason Keogh (Peugeot 205) 4m 44.66s.

RALLY CARS SEMI-FINAL 2:
1 Pat Murphy (Peugeot 205) 4m 42.48s,
2 Thomas O'Rafferty (Vauxhall Nova) 4m 43.74s,
3 P J Doyle (Peugeot 205) 4m 58.26s.

FORD FIESTA ZETEC FINAL:
1 Sean Hession 5m 00.27s,
2 Denis McCrudden 5m 01.36s,
3 Dave Griffin 5m 19.49s,
4 Brian Matthews 5m 20.05s.

JUNIOR FINAL:
1 Jyles Harding (Nissan Micra) 5m 14.58s,
2 Ben Mullins (Nissan Micra) 5m 16.07s,
3 Shane Loftus (Nissan Micra) 5m 34.54s,
4 Eoin Kinsella (Peugeot 106) 5 laps.

BUGGY FINAL:
1 Padraic McHale 4m 13.49s,
2 Martin McAteer 4m 18.04s,
3 Peter McGarry 4m 27.97s,
4 John Ward 4m 31.70s.

Mondello Park SC Rallycross (RX) - Mondello - 5 Feb 17 - RESULTS

Results by: timing.ie

Preview

Posted: February 3, 2017 8:22 AM

It will be all change for the 2017 Irish Rallycross Championship as Mondello Park looks to reverse the fortunes of the domestic Rallycross series with a host of new ideas and initiatives including reversing the track for round one.

Sunday will see competitors tackle what is effectively a whole new circuit for the opening round of the 2017 Parts for Cars Irish Championship. Starting at the Grandstand the cars will head anti-clockwise on a long fast run to Southside Corner before turning left and then immediately right onto the first of the loose sections. The down-hill run to Irish Ferries corner will be followed by a tight left hander which will take competitors briefly back onto the tarmac before they tackle the fast right handed loose section at Bridgestone Corner.

The 'hole in the hedge' will be one of the biggest challenges on the new circuit as drivers will have to brake hard just as the loose surface changes back to tarmac. Following the slowest turn on the circuit competitors will have a long fast run downhill through the final loose section which will bring them at high speed back on to the main straight. The new circuit layout means a new joker lap, which all competitors must tackle once during each race.

The new section will be all tarmac and will run from the exit of Southside corner through Irish Ferries to re-join the Rallycross track on the loose surface at Bridgestone Corner. Other changes will see cars exit the back of the paddock to head to the dummy grid which will now be at Mobil corner just beyond the Grandstand.

The new circuit will offer a whole new view of Rallycross for spectators in the grandstand who will get a closer look at the race starts and the build up to each run. The race day format will also be more fan friendly as the classes have been streamlined as well as the format for the finals being spiced up with the introduction of semi-finals and a final for classes with more than ten entries, while classes with less than ten drivers will go straight to a final. The Superfinal remains as the last race of the day with the fastest eight drivers coming together to battle for overall championship points.

The first of three runs of heats, which will decide the grids for the finals, get underway on Sunday morning at 10:15, with the finals set to begin at 15:30. Admission to Mondello Park is Eur 12:50 for adults with under sixteen's admitted free.

New Track Layout

Posted: January 11, 2017 9:45 AM

We have decided to mix things up and provide a new challenge for all the drivers this year. So Round 1 of the Parts for Cars Irish Rallycross Championship will be run backwards on the RX circuit.

The new layout has been tested by a few of our drivers and it works very well. There are a number of jobs to be carried out before a track licence can be issued but these works are well on there way and all achievable within the time frame.

The start grid will be right in front of the grandstand to get spectators as close to the action as possible. The cars will then power up the straight and enter the newly widened RX 3 section. As the drivers rejoin the tarmac before RX 2 they will merge with the cars coming down the new joker section which will be from the hairpin at the top of the circuit down the tarmac and through a new chicane before RX 2. After that it will be backwards through the hole in the hedge and back down to RX1 which will be entered from a wide angle to give a better line back out on to the straight and over the normal finish line.

There will be practice on Saturday the 4th of February on the new layout from 11am to 3pm with no break for Eur 99. Please contact Mondello Park to book.

Entry Form / Details

Posted: January 11, 2017 8:58 AM

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