Official Statement regarding the Formula 5 Championship

Mondello Park 2-7-6

Last weekend saw the opening double header of the Formula 5 championship marred by a number of engine related problems. 7 cars were entered for the weekend but problems became apparent from the test day on Saturday which saw a number of cars suffering with oil and water leaks. Despite much hard work, many of the problems were carried over into qualifying the following day which saw 16-year-old Kevin O’ Hara take pole position with Kevin Gillespie second fastest.

Even with heroic efforts by everyone involved in the class, the water and oil leaks still plagued the grid and things went from bad to worse when both David Heavey and Ronan Healy were pulled off the grid for dropping oil after the warm up lap for race one. While Healy went on to finish the race, Heavey was sidelined for the day as his oil leak was terminal. “It’s sickening, to be honest. We’ve worked so hard on these cars over the past few weeks and now it’s something out of our control that has ruined it for everyone. No one outside the class will care that it’s not our fault, they will just see it as a Leastone problem and that reflects very badly on us.” said a depressed Heavey as he walked away from his smoking car.

Young O’ Hara shot into the lead once the lights when out and held a steady gap to Gillespie for the first half of the race. Galway man Dominic Dillon was chasing the two leaders hard, when a problem with his differential forced him into retirement. Stephen Kershaw was making good progress from the back of the grid but went off the road in the latter stages of the race and damaged his rear suspension. “It was my mistake. I just ran out of road coming out of the Esses and the bumpy ground launched the car into the air. I landed so hard that I hurt my back!” said Kershaw of the incident.

At the front, O’ Hara was maintaining the gap but unfortunately his efforts were all in vain as an engine failure, similar to one he suffered on Saturday, ended his fine performance.
With all the problems in the first race, only Gillespie and Healy started the second race with the latter retiring after his oil leak reappeared. Gillespie cruised home to collect the points setting a fastest lap of 59.03secs.

Understandably the mood was severely downbeat in the Leastone camp afterwards. “This is extremely frustrating for us. Everything that we have designed is working perfectly. The engines have never been a problem before. For the championship we employed an engine builder in England to ensure parity and it’s only since then that we have suffered these problems.” said Leastone boss Paul Heavey “I consulted the drivers and it stands as a championship round. We only needed one objection for it to stand. At the end of the day, it was the same for everyone, they all suffered similar problems.”

The next championship round takes place at Mondello on the 23rd of July. By then the engine troubles will be sorted and the class will hopefully provide us with some close racing.