Blackburn joins Monoposto grid for 2020
Leastone Racing Team announced today that they will be joined by 2017 Irish Formula Vee champion, Colm Blackburn for an assault on the 2020 UK Monoposto Championship. Blackburn returns to full competition following select Formula Ford outings in 2019.
The Dubliner will hope to mount a championship challenge for MonoMoto 1000 honours, and continue Leastones strong performance in recent years, which has seen the Leastone 1000 take either the title or runner up spot since 2017.
Colm has been a long-standing member of the Leastone family, having started his single seater career with the KERS Motorsport in Formula Vee back in 2012. He went on to take the ‘C’ championship in his rookie year and followed that up by securing the ‘B’ Championship in 2013. On the back of that championship win, he raced the previous iteration of the 1000, the Formula 5, in Mondello Park as part of the prize offered by championship sponsor Dunlop at the time. His performances during that year also drew the attention of Motorsport Ireland, who awarded him with a Driver of the Year nomination for 2013, but he ultimately lost out to Formula Ford hotshoe Niall Murray.
Blackburn went on to join Kershaw Motorsport in 2016, a fruitful partnership that saw him rack up a handful of wins on the way to runner up in the National championship. He continued his strong form into 2017, when he took National Championship honours, following a season long battle with Anthony Cross and Dan Polley. His 2018 defence came up short, as a number of DNF's saw him fall out of championship contention early in the season. Despite those issues, he still managed 2 wins, in addition to winning the coveted Formula Vee Festival.
Colm then decided to take a step back in 2019, electing to take part in select Formula Ford 1600 outings with Morgan Dempsey Racing, which included the famous Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. Blackburn performed well among the more seasoned 1600 campaigners and this whet his appetite for more UK appearances in 2020.
‘I really enjoyed the Formula Ford outings last year and I began to look for viable options around a full UK championship in 2020. I had been keeping an eye on Monoposto in recent years, given Paul’s full-time presence there and when I saw the calendar, I was really drawn to the tracks the series is visiting this year. Overall, it looked like the best bang for my buck in the New Year and I’m delighted to be back working with Paul again. I would hope that we have a good shot at challenging for the title, given the cars pace over the past few years’ said Blackburn
Colm is backed by a number of dedicated sponsors, including Sweeney Garage, Autoclass Motors, Crane Care Lifting Services and Spirit Lilis O’Donnell Ford, all of which have helped to materialise this opportunity.
The Monoposto championship kicks off at Donington Park on the 18/19th of April, where Colm will be joined by Morgan McCourt, who will be entering into his fourth full season of Monoposto competition. The full Monoposto calendar is listed below:
18/19th April - Donington Park National (x 2)
30/31st May - Brands Hatch Grand Prix (x 3)
13/14th June - Castle Combe (x 3)
1st August - Oulton Park International (x 2)
15/16th August - Silverstone Grand Prix (x 2)
19th September - Brands Hatch Indy (x 2)
