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Race Report

Stephen Doyle recorded a memorable double win in the Porsche series at Mondello Park. Doyle, who comfortably claimed victory in the first race of the day, never looked in danger of losing this race from the first corner. Robin Titterington from Lisburn, who finished just behind the dominant Doyle in race one, lined up on pole position for race two of the day in the Porsche series.

Despite being surrounded on all sides by ominous dark cloud, the circuit remained rain free for the early stages of this race. Bob Cameron in the Porsche GT2 and Mark Gilmartin in the Porsche 997 GT3 made up the second row of the grid. Races are often won and lost in the opening 100 yards and this held true for the second Porsche race of the day at Mondello. Stephen Doyle from Delgany, again made the perfect start, getting the better of Titterington in the dash down into turn one.

Ivor Murphy misjudged his entry into Honda corner and ended up nose first into the gravel. The racer from Bray managed to get going again and re-joined the fray. The pace setting pair of Doyle and Titterington opened up a considerable early advantage from Bob Cameron in third, extending to 3.6 seconds by lap 3.

Vinny O’Reilly and Brian Corbett resumed their own private battle down at the back of the field, picking up the contest from where they left off in race one. Cameron’s distinctive pink Porsche GT2 appeared well off the pace in the opening stages of the race and struggled to keep up with the leaders. Further back in fourth, Mark Gilmartin was pushing hard to keep in touch with the pacesetters.

Ivor Murphy managed to make up a vast deficit caused by his spin on O’Reilly and Corbett and edged back into eight spot by lap four. The phenomenal early pace of Doyle and Titterington meant they began encountering back markers as early as lap six. Cameron continued to visibly struggle for speed and didn’t appear to be running smoothly on lap seven.

The race was effectively ended as a contest on lap seven when the second placed Titterington buried his car into the gravel at the Dunlop turn and was unable to continue. Titterington’s misfortune was Gilmartin’s gain, with the man from Rush moving into second spot. The safety car was again called into action to allow for the removal of Titterington’s car which had nestled in an unfortunate position on Dunlop corner.

Despite appearing that he was destined to join Titterington in the pits, Cameron managed to work a mini miracle and force his “Pink Pig” back up to race speed. Jim O’Reilly was also an early retiree, retreating back to the pits on lap ten and he was to play no more part in the day despite attempting to re-join the race.

The rain which had been threatening to fall on the Mondello circuit all afternoon began to fall midway through the race but did not fall heavily enough to cause the drivers any serious problems. Racing resumed on lap 12 as the over-worked safety car went back to the pits for a well earned break after spending more time out on the Mondello circuit than many of the cars competing.

The oil spill left behind from the Fiat race earlier in the afternoon made conditions difficult down in turn three with drivers forced to abandon the racing line in search of a clean track. There was late drama in the skirmish for second spot and Mark Gilmartin can feel desperately unlucky after he lost out on the very last lap. Gilmartin ran into heavy traffic, losing all momentum allowing Cameron to sneak by and steal second place.

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