A number of talented Irish drivers will compete in motor racing championships abroad this year.
Donegal driver Damien Faulkner (Moville) starts his North American Indy Light Championship campaign at Monterrey, Mexico, on March 11th. The 12-race series will be run on road and street circuits, with six races run on the superspeedways where the 3.5 litre Oldsmobile-powered cars will lap at around 200 m.p.h. Having won last year's Formula Palmer Audi European Championship Faulkner choose to go the American route rather than taking up a drive in the European Formula 3000 Championship with a second rate team.
Cork drivers Peter Walsh and Robbie Coleman and John O'Hara (Maynooth) are expected to compete in the British Palmer Audi series, which replaces the European championship. Another Cork driver Michael Keohane (Clonakilty) will contest the British Formula Three Championship.
Dunlop Sexton Trophy winner Paul Dagg (Drogheda), Keith Dempsey (Ashbourne) and Matthew Griffin (Dublin) will race in Formula Renault in the UK. James Murphy (Wexford) will compete in the British Formula Ford Zetec Championship, and Ian Barrett (Maynooth), Philip Kershaw and Niki Meredith (Dublin) should be very competitive in the British Zetec Junior category.
On the home scene, Formula Europa and Formula Ford Zetec are both looking good. A big prize for the winner of the Ford of Ireland Zetec Championship is an end of season Formula Three test drive with the Irish owned Meritus Racing at Silverstone. The concurrently run ACEC Junior Cup winner will receive a prize of £2,500.
The Zetec Championship is being sponsored by Ford of Ireland for the fifth consecutive year, and the leading contenders will include Alan Ring, George McAlpin, Noel Dunne, Alan Dwyer, Ray Moore and karting graduates Charlie Donnelly (17) and Michael Devaney (16).
Only two car events are listed for the weekend - tomorrow's Garda Siochana MC Sporting Trial at Aughfarrell, Brittas, Co Dublin and Sunday's Autocross run by the Castle MC at Rally School Ireland's facility at Scotstown, Co Monaghan.
There will be a special mass at Mount Argus Church, Dublin, at 12.30 p.m. tomorrow in honour of the Fisher Family, Bertie, Mark and Emma, who died in a helicopter accident in January.
