Monoposto Rd 6 & 7 - Donington Park - 18/19th June
The Leastone team returned to the podium last weekend at Donington Park for Rounds 6 and 7 of the Monoposto Championship. David Heavey and Morgan McCourt managed to secure some silverware but unfortunately Karl O’Brien suffered more bad luck in both races.
Qualifying on Saturday was held in wet conditions, which suited the Leastone 1000s and saw Heavey hold pole position up to the final lap when he was bumped down to 2nd. Morgan took a conservative approach, such were the conditions, and would end up on the 5th row while Karl was hampered by a recurring fuel issue which would see him back in 11th place for Race 1.
Conditions we much the same for Saturday’s race and while Heavey made a poor start, dropping to 4th, he recovered the lost ground and exited the first corner in 2nd place. Morgan struggled on the opening lap and dropped to 13th, while Karl had vaulted up to 6th.
Heavey slipped into the lead at the beginning of lap 2 and with the benefit of a clear track, he began to steadily pull away. Karl continued to push forward but progress was somewhat hindered by the heavy spray within the pack. The safety car was deployed on Lap 4, with the field neutralised for 2 laps. Heavey set about rebuilding his lead and both Karl and Morgan took advantage of the compressed field to gain another few spots over the first racing lap. Just 3 laps later, the red flag was shown, following a shunt at the final chicane, and with only a couple of minutes remaining on the clock, the result was declared with Heavey taking the win, Karl snatching 3rd overall and 2nd in class, and Morgan 4th in class.
Unfortunately, during a post-race investigation, Karl was adjudged to have passed a car before the start/finish line on the restart and was hit with a 30 second penalty. With the field still tightly bunched at the time of the stoppage, that time penalty dropped him to last overall. It did however promote Morgan onto the podium.
Sunday was overcast but dry for qualifying and Karl put his 1000 on the second row for the 2nd of the weekends races, with Morgan lining up 6th. Heavey had put in a lap good enough for 5th overall but had all lap times deleted for excessive track limit violations during the session and would start last overall.
Karl had slipped to 5th on the opening lap but quickly set about recovering ground and had pulled himself up to 3rd place by the 3rd lap. He began to drop pace soon after however, before eventually returning to the pits with a suspension issue which required him to park the car. Morgan held station in the early part of the race and was promoted to 4th following his teammates demise, while Heavey managed to jump inside the top 10 by the end of lap 1.
By lap 8 the 2 1000’s were together and Heavey snuck by McCourt into Redgate and with approximately 4 minutes left on the clock, that looked to be as far as he would go. It turns out there would be one final change however, when the third placed man suffered a gear selection issue late in the race and Heavey was able to nip by on the final tour, securing an unlikely podium. Morgan ran out of laps to take similar advantage but still came home 5th overall to round out a solid weekend for him.
The team now look forward to Silverstone on July 30/31st, for rounds 8 and 9, where Karl is surely due a change in luck!
