Roddy revving up for a shot at famous Leinster Trophy

DUNDALK’S Noel Roddy will be among a host of top Irish drivers at Mondello Park this weekend as the Kildare venue echoes to the sound of Formula One power for the first time in a number of years.

The Leinster Motor Club’s race meeting is the annual highlight of the Irish circuit racing calendar and as part of the event one of Ireland’s fastest race drivers, Dan Daly, will demonstrate his beautiful Jordan 193 Formula One car.

The Jordan 193 was originally driven by Rubens Barrichello in 1993 and is now owned by Dunshaughlin’s Daly a former BOSS (Big Open Single Seaters) Ireland champion who holds the fastest ever lap time around the Mondello Park International Track by an Irish driver.

Now no longer racing full time, Dan will demonstrate his rare Jordan at Mondello Park for the first time and will also make a one-off return to racing in Sunday’s BOSS Ireland Leinster Trophy feature race.

The Leinster Trophy is the most famous award in Irish Motor Racing having been won by, among others, Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen.

This year the BOSS championship, Ireland’s fastest race series, will race for the trophy for the first time and with the biggest trophy in Irish Motor Racing up for grabs a fantastic line-up of almost thirty cars is expected.

The field for the Leinster Trophy race will be made up of Formula 3000, Formula 3, and Formula Renault cars, amongst others, and one of the favourites for the race will be previous winner Paul Dagg from Drogheda. Dagg will drive a Dallara Formula 3 car, which will be one of three similar cars on the grid from the Italian manufacturer.

The other two will be driven by Dagg’s teammate Tim Buckley from Malahide, with veteran Roddy also Dallara Formula 3 mounted.

Standing in the Formula 3 drivers’ way will be the Formula 3000 Reynard of Dunshaughlin’s Stephen Daly who is aiming to become the first driver in the 83year history of the event to win the Trophy three times in a row.

Alongside the feature event the Leinster Trophy races will have a full programme of support classes where many Irish Championship titles will be decided two days with all of the Irish Championship classes on the bill.

For more info see www.mondellopark.ie where tickets can be booked at on-line discounted prices.