ICCR Rd 6 - Formula BOSS - October 15th
Photos by cregornews.com
The Leastone team rounded out 2023 by joining the Formula BOSS Ireland grid for the final 2 championship rounds, on the Mondello Park National layout. Fresh off the back of their Monoposto podium success at Anglesey, Codey Keogh and Morgan McCourt joined the BOSS3 class, which caters for cars up to 1600cc. Friday testing was somewhat frustrating, with the team chasing a misfire that had plagued Codey intermittently since Oulton Park. The team were still searching for an answer overnight and threw everything and the kitchen sink at it early Sunday morning – an approach that thankfully paid off for qualifying.
Qualifying was hectic to say the least, with 18 big machines fighting for space on the short national layout, not helped by the session being cut to 8 minutes due to a fog delay early in the morning. Codey only managed one clear lap right at the end to snatch BOSS3 pole and 9th overall while Morgan struggled for a clean lap but would line up 3rd of the BOSS3 cars and 13th overall.
Race 1's start was chaotic to say the least, with a couple of delayed starts and when proceedings got underway, Codey narrowly avoided some of the slower starting machines while jumping a few spots on the frantic opening lap. He was shadowed by BOSS3 regular Johnny Keating but the Leastone 1000 was showing good pace and Codey managed to get a car between them for a bit of a buffer before Keating suffered a mechanical issue on lap 5.
Keogh showed no signs of letting up though, as he continued to get more comfortable with the track and he became the first driver to dip into the 53’s for the Leastone, with a time of 53.9 seconds (video below).
With Johnny’s DNF, Morgan was promoted to 2nd when the race ended prematurely on lap 9, following a tangle between Codey and an F3. Codey continued undamaged to take the win and 5th overall but unfortunately the F3 made heavy contact with the tyre wall and the organisers had no option but to red flag the race.
Race 2’s start got underway with little drama and again Codey managed to slot into the BOSS3 lead. Unfortunately, he would coast to a halt on the 2nd lap, with the return of that troublesome electrical issue. This would leave Morgan as the sole BOSS3 runner, and he enjoyed a battle with some of the F3s and Colm Hynes beautiful Reynard. His laptimes tailed off towards the end and he lost touch with the pack, but he would take BOSS3 honours at the flag and a top ten overall to round out his season.
The team can now look forward to the winter break and a complete overhaul of the cars, while 2024 plans are still decided. As always, a big thanks goes out to our sponsors at Selco Hygiene, Finol Oils and M3 Van Centre, along with Codeys personal sponsors Leinster Pellets Ltd., Peacock Enterprises, K.O’Rourke Joinery and Greenwood Timber.
