Patch Fiestas set to race on new Mondello Park layout
June 07, 2018The next event of the 2018 Patch Tyre Equipment Fiesta Zetec Championship takes competitors to Mondello Park this Saturday June 9th, to race on a new circuit as they tackle the Mondello Park National Track in reverse, the first time this layout has been used since the nineteen nineties.
The popular Fiesta Zetec championship continues to be the best supported Irish saloon racing series and is once again backed by Patch Tyre Equipment, which has a long association with motorsport, having sponsored Rally competitors before branching out into circuit racing when the Fiesta Championship was introduced in 2013. Since then the Clane based Tyre Trade Suppliers have been strong supporters of Fiesta Racing with company owner Brian Matthews also competing in the series.
This weekend, the championship will contest its latest double header event on the third different track of the season, having started on the Mondello Park National Track in April and then made a first trip to Bishopscourt County Down in May. With none of the drivers having much, if any, previous experience of the anti-clockwise Mondello Park circuit an interesting weekends’ competition lies ahead.
The championship arrives at Mondello Park with Owen Purcell as its leader. Purcell is the only driver to have made the podium at each event this season with four wins and one second place from the five races so far. A clean sweep of pole position and two victories from the recent trip to Bishopscourt County Down, has given Purcell a commanding twenty two point lead over his nearest rival. Second in the standings is round one winner Mark Johnston, with William Kellett and Darren Lawlor tied in third place just nine points further back, and well clear of the rest of the field.
The Patch Tyre Equipment Fiesta Zetecs will have a single qualifying session on Saturday morning offering limited time to adapt to the newly re-introduced Mondello Park layout, before tackling their two races. The grid for race one will be decided by each drivers fastest lap in qualifying with the race two starting line-up decided by the drivers second fastest laps.
The Patch Tyre Equipment Fiesta Zetec Championship can be followed through the series’ facebook page and on the Mondello Park web site.