Inside Line- The Title Chase heats Up- with Erik Holstein
A few weeks back saw the penultimate days racing for the ’16 SEAT Supercup Ireland Championship. Up we trekked to Kirkistown, fairly confident as I’ve always seemed to go well up there. After all the dramas we had so far this year, somehow we had a points lead in our pocket too, so things were looking rosy. Jeez, it was even sunny! On arrival we discovered why the Yokohama Tyre share price had gone through the roof; championship contender Rod McGovern had been testing all week with his collection of Seat Supercopas. Things were most certainly hotting up.
There was a few absentees on the day but the other title contender Niall Quinn was there, so the race was on. There was hardly anything between the 3 of us in qualifying, but P3 it was for me after missing the best ‘grippy’ part of the new tyres. Again! After a quick 30 minute sulk, it was race time.
We’ve all figured out how to launch these cars at this stage now, so it’s getting harder to get the jump off the line. I managed to squeeze by Rod and got a run on Niall out of the hairpin on lap 2. We were side by side through the fast ‘debtors’ kink into turn 1, but I had the line and it was job done. All seemed under control until the fuel pressure light started to flicker…then the dreaded spluttering started and the writing was on the wall. I stuck it into top gear just to make sure I got to the finish to make most of the reverse grid second race. Absolute disaster to watch the others sail by and give a win away right at the end of a race, but sh!t happens and I chugged across the line to finish 5th.
Race 2 was altogether a better effort. We led off the line and after a race long battle with Niall, we held off the challenge to take the win and limit the points damage done in race 1. We still hold a small points lead going into the final day, but there’s nothing in it between the 3 of us, so it’s all to play for. With other drivers also returning for the last rounds, the pressure is certainly building up. Big thank you as always to Enniscorthy Motor Company for the continued support and of course Murray Motorsport for the fantastic opportunity to race their car.
Roll on the Leinster Trophy final rounds at Mondello on September 17/18!
Erik
Images from Autosportpics.com
Categories