Returning to his Murray Motorsport Formula Ford after a break in the championship that allowed him to sit his state exams, Niall Murray was keen to build on his very impressive showing as a single-seater rookie so far this season.
Showing signs of further improvements in testing, Murray was unlucky not to get the times he deserved in qualifying during a tricky session which put him sixth on the grid for both of the days races.
Unluckily for Murray, his poor run of luck from qualifying was set to continue when contact on the opening lap at Fishermans left his car looking rather second hand and out of the race.
Thanks to the efforts of his Murray Motorsport team with the added assistance of Cliff and Keith Dempsey, Niall’s Murray Motorsport supported Van Dieman was repaired just in time to line up in sixth once again for the afternoon’s race two. A superb start off the line was hampered when Niall had no room to make his way up the order approaching the first corner. Murray who started the race with a wet setup made the most of this advantage in the early laps. Murray now running right on Kevin O’Hara’s gearbox in fifth tried several moves to get past before finally pressuring him into a mistake at Colonial to move into fourth. Approaching the final laps of the race, rain drops started to reappear playing right into the hands of Murray running his wet setup. Coming into the final lap of the race, Niall was now locked in battle with David McCullough and a recovering Kevin O’Hara. The trio came onto the back straight three wide and approaching the final corner Murray managed to take advantage of McCullough braking too late and O’Hara losing out on a move around the outside. While all this unfolded, Adrian Pollock managed to capitalise on the battle and in a drag race to the line pipped Murray for second by a mere 0.4 seconds.
Speaking after the race, Murray summarised his weekend overall: “It’s been a very up and down weekend for us this weekend. I didn’t get the times I was hoping for in qualifying, which was a large factor in crashing out of race one. However a podium in race two made up for that and thanks to some of our rivals having poor weekends, we remain in a strong position in the championship. Unfortunately I’ve tested the strengths of my Murray Motorsport team again this weekend and as ever they’ve not let me down. My car was super all weekend especially in race two after the extensive damage we suffered in race one. So thank you to them and my other sponsors Schroth Racing, SuperB batteries, P1 Digital and also to Keith and Cliff Dempsey for their help this weekend.”
Niall gets his first chance to take on the Mondello Park National Circuit in his Formula Ford on Sunday 7th July for the next rounds of the Irish Formula Ford Championship.