Irish driver Eoin Murray finished second in his Clio Cup debut at Misano in Italy last weekend. The weekend started perfectly as Murray was immediately on the pace during free practice topping the time sheets Friday afternoon. After the 45 minute qualifying session Murray qualified in third position behind his team mate, Oscar Nogues, and 0.138 seconds off the pole position time set by Vito Postiglione.
Murray’s job for the weekend was to support his team mate Oscar Nogues. Race 1 started well and Murray shadowed his team mate in third position for the opening part of the race. Nogues continued to apply pressure on the leader, Postiglione, and found a way past on lap 12, the penultimate lap. A few corners later Murray also found a way past Postiglione and took second position on the final lap of the race. It was the perfect result for his team Rangoni Motorsport and a very impressive debut for Murray showing he had the pace to possibly take the victory had he had the opportunity.
For race 2 on Sunday the top 8 finishers of race 1 would be reversed. Just before the race heavy rain came and as Murray lined up on the grid for the warm up lap an unusual intermittent electrical problem occurred and Murray’s car would not re-start. When he eventually got his Clio started he was a few seconds behind the 34 car field. He fought his way to finish in 16th position at the chequered flag.
After Murray’s strong performance Rangoni Motorsport has invited him back to help them in the final round of the series on the 25th of September in Varano in Italy where they hope to claim the championship title with Oscar Nogues.
After the weekend Murray commented: “The weekend was fantastic and I was especially satisfied with race 1. I did what was asked of me and second position was the maximum I could achieve. Race 2 was a little disappointing with the electrical problem but it’s always satisfying fighting past so many cars. The team have invited me back for the final round in Varano which should be exciting. I’ve learned a lot about the car and maximising the tyres during the event and as a result should be even stronger at the next event.”
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http://www.eoinmurray.com/misano/race1.jpg
http://www.eoinmurray.com/misano/race2.jpg |
