Coming off the back of a disappointing weekend in Mondello Park two weeks previous, Niall Murray travelled to Kirkistown in County Down aiming to repeat his earlier dominant form and extend both his Northern Ireland and All Ireland Formula Ford Championship lead.
Qualifying got underway and Niall instantly showed his intent for the weekend being the fastest man on track straight out of the blocks. Murray got himself some clear track and went on to improve his time as the session continued and was the only one to put in two sub 61 second laps, enough to give him pole position for both of the afternoons races.
Importantly for Murray, he lined up ahead of main championship rival Noel Dunne on the grid. Both drivers made a great getaway going side by side through Debtors with Niall crucially holding the outside line to give him the inside advantage for the following right-hander Colonial. Slotting into the lead the Irish Sports Council supported driver got his head down and focused on keeping Dunne behind. Despite early pressure in the opening stages of the race, Murray went on to open a gap to Dunne and took his opening win of the weekend by just over three seconds.
With an identical starting order for race two, Murray and Dunne both repeated their earlier performance once again heading side by side towards Debtors. The 2013 Dunlop Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year again slotted into the lead under braking at Colonial with Dunne tucking in under his gearbox where he would remain for the following laps, leaving the remainder of the field in their wake. As Dunne started to attack, Murray responded with some very quick lap times to open up a small margin at the front. A rare mistake from Dunne, spinning exiting the Chicane allowed Murray to focus on bringing his Van Diemen home for his second victory of the day almost 10 seconds clear of the chasing pack, taking the fastest lap of the race and driver of the day award along the way.
The double race victory sees Murray further extend his Championship lead in both the Northern Ireland and All Ireland Formula Ford Championships.
Niall Murray #5 Van Dieman LA10:
“Yet another great weekend this season! The car was on rails all weekend thanks to Bernard Dolan and the guys at FCR Media Racing, I just had to sit and turn the wheel. To get the monkey off my back and lap in the 60’s is brilliant especially as it was without a tow, the lap record of 60.7 is looking ever so reachable now. It’s a pity there is a five week break now but I’ll be working hard during the down time before coming back looking for another couple of wins!”