Eoin Murray had a solid start to his first Spanish Seat Supercopa championship during the weekend. The Irish ace signed a deal to race in the championship with Portuguese team Oasis Motorsport just one week before the first race in Valencia.
Qualifying was always going to be a challenge as there were 38 cars all looking for a clear piece of the track. Eoin endured a difficult qualifying session being held up on his lap with new tyres and only managing 10th position. A strong first race and Eoin moved up to 5th which gave him 5th position for the start of race 2. A great drive saw Eoin finish on the second step of the podium for the second sprint race on Saturday afternoon.
The former European champion had a tough race on Sunday but managed to cross the line in 4th position. This great weekend which would see Eoin lie in third position in the championship was only briefly celebrated as Eoin was hit with a harsh 25 second penalty for contact with a Spanish driver during the race. The penalty dropped him to 12th position and fifth in the championship.
“It was an aggressive but fair move in my opinion. The driver closed the gap to defend the corner too late in the braking zone and there was nothing I could do as I was already committed to passing him on the inside. There was very little contact and he lost no other positions on the track. It seems a very harsh decision but we have to accept the decision of the Spanish Stewards.”
Despite the penalty in race 3 Eoin had a very strong debut for his new team Oasis Motorsport. There is now a six week break for the team to prepare for the second round of the championship in Jarama. Like the remaining tracks in the championship, this will be Eoin’s first visit to the track.
“Despite the disappointing decision in race 3 I was happy with the weekend. We had three strong races. However we are aware that we need to raise our game for Jarama. As a team we need to extract more pace out of the car if we are to win races and I’m confident we can do it. I’m really looking forward to the next challenge now.”
Race 1:
1.O.Nogués, 21’04”136
2. M.Pedalà, 21’08”004
3. M.Carol, 21’09”472
4. A.de la Reina, 21’09”942
5. E.Murray, 21’11”622
Race 2:
1. M.Carol, 21’28”804
2. E.Murray, 21’30”857
3. N.Michelisz, 21’31”041
4. A.Fontes, 21’33”297
5. D.Saraiva, 21’34”654
Race 3:
1. M.Pedalà, 25’12”920
2. M.Carol, 25’18”298
3. D.Saraiva, 25’20”640
4. E.Murray, 25’24”550 (+25 second penalty moving Eoin to 12th)
5. A.Fontes, 25’25”079
Eoin’s next race is 13th/14th of June at Jarama in Spain. |
