The ‘Irish Supercar Championship powered by Pirelli’ had their first championship race weekend on the 9th April 2017. The race was held in conjunction with the Special Needs Fun Centre to raise much needed funds for the children’s charity,. This fundraising event managed to raise over €500 for the charity.

The first race weekend for the Irish Supercars had many of last years drivers returning to the grid, with the addition of new drivers. After some trouble in testing on Saturday, Barry Hallion was unable to make the grid for racing on Sunday. Alan Dawson returned to the grid with Sean Woods Racing running him for the second year in a row. In a superb performance from Dawson, he landed himself on pole position for both races in Mondello, proving he is one to watch for the season ahead.

Peter Barrable also returned to the grid in a bid to reclaim his Championship winner title from 2015. After a good qualifying session in one of the ASK Racing Supercars, Peter took his place on the front row alongside Alan Dawson. Bob Cameron and Philip Jones also made their return to the grid, landing themselves in third and fourth on the grid retrospectively. Robert Savage, a new driver to the Irish Supercar Championship this season, wasn’t far off the leaders, placing himself on the third row of the grid. An exciting first race seen Alan Dawson take the first win of the season, followed closely behind by a battling Bob Cameron and Phillip Jones.

Peter Barrable had a tough start to the championship and after suffering suspected engine trouble in race 1, was forced to retire for the weekend. Robert Savage showed a great performance in his first race with the Supercars, placing in fourth place ahead of Ray Finnegan, who started from Pit Lane due to issues in qualifying.

Race 2 of the weekend was an exciting one to watch, with Philip Jones making an incredible start off the line to lead the pack into turn one. His impressive start unfortunately didn’t last and he was soon under pressure from Alan Dawson and Bob Cameron.

After a minor tiff between Cameron and Dawson, Dawson soon caught up with Jones and overtook him to take the lead and his second win of the weekend. The performance from Dawson was one to behold and definitely proved the upgrade to the new Drenth gearbox was a race-winning choice. Whilst Cameron raced and ASK Racing car throughout the weekend, his own car was driver by newcomer Robert Savage. Savage really stuck it to Cameron throughout race two, constantly threatening to defeat Cameron in his own car, ending in a chase to the flag, which resulted in Cameron barely beating Savage across the line. The battle between Kellett Motorsport, ASK Racing, Vertical Racing and Sean Woods Racing will continue on May 6th & 7th in Bishopscourt and we’re sure we will see the drivers really ramp it up in the race for the Championship title.