2003-08-29 // Murray Mints victory at Bank Holiday Brands
Irish Driver Eoin Murray has really answered his detractors with an emphatic pole position and win with over 5.sec to spare in the Elf Clio cup at Brands Hatch on Bank Holiday Monday.

Driving for the Xcel Motorsport Team and backed by Holfeld F1 Components the young Irish driver annexed Pole Position by over a tenth from reigning champion Paul Rivett. Mayhem on the first lap at Graham Hill Bend forced a red flag and a re-formed grid 30min later.

At the re-start Murray, the pole sitter, was led of the line by Jonathon Fildes and Murray and Wilkinson then went ‘door handle to door handle’ into Paddock Hill Bend. Robust defending by Wilkinson saw him move across on Murray leaving the youngster with absolutely no space, the resulting close encounter had Wilkinson momentarily heading for the grass only to execute a recovery, but dropping himself a few places in the process.

‘Ground hog day’ then as the two Irishmen, Fildes and Murray battled at the front of the field, a spin by Fildes on the run up to Druids paid dividends for the relentless pressure by Murray allowing the Xcel man through to take the lead. This with only two laps completed out of 20 on the 1.22 mile Indy Circuit ensured that the young Firhouse Ace had to draw on all his reserves of concentration and race craft to lead the field for the remaining 18 laps. Murray who never put a wheel wrong during the race eventually took the chequered flag 5.5 seconds ahead of the second place man.

Speaking on his third win of the 2003 Clio Cup season Eoin Murray said ‘’I just need as many wins as I can get at the moment and I’m going to drive every race as it comes from here on in.

This year I have proven without any doubt what I can achieve & despite the bit of bad luck at the start of the season I expect to finish the season very strong. I am really looking forward to Donnington and Oulton Park. where, who knows, perhaps the championship is not out of my sight yet.