SEAT Aims to Slay its Mondello Park BTCC Demons
14 April 2006
SEAT Sport UK hasn't enjoyed the luck of the Irish in its two
previous visits to Mondello Park, but the team hopesthat its clean-sweep
of three race wins at the opening round of the 2006 Dunlop MSA British
Touring Car Championship is a good omen as team drivers Jason Plato
and James Thompson prepare to race in Co. Kildare.
In the last two years, Jason and Rob Huff (2004) and Jason, James Pickford
and Luke Hines (2005) have gone to Mondello Park with high hopes of
doing well in the three BTCC races. However, the SEAT Sport UK team
has only recorded two podium results out of a possible 15 and notched
up five DNFs. Jason is by far the most successfulSEAT driver at Mondello
– but with one race win in 2004 and a 2nd place finish in 2005,
it's an uncharacteristically subdued record for the 2001 Champion.
Nevertheless, the performance of the new Leon on twisty and bumpy circuits,
the confidence-boosting triple win last time out at Brands Hatch and
the best driver line-up on the 2006 grid gives SEAT great hope that
it will be third time lucky when Rounds 4, 5 and 6 take place at Mondello
Park on Sunday 23rd April.
Situated 25 miles west of Dublin near Naas, the tight and twisty 2.25
mile Mondello Park track is an unforgiving place. Qualifying will be
all-important, as the racing is notoriously close and incident-filled.
Indeed, a touring car race weekend at Mondello is seldom without its
controversial moments, but the welcome the drivers get from the Irish
motorsport fans makes this one of their favourite events in the BTCC
calendar.
Having won the last round of the BTCC, Jason is in confident mood as
he spearheads SEAT Sport UK's BTCC title challenge. For the third consecutive
year he'll have a new team-mate in Ireland with James Thompson
driving the other Leon. James, who won the BTCC title in 2002 and '04,
will start the race weekend with 45kgs of success ballast in his Leon,
for he leads the series having won the opening two rounds. On a circuit
that requires a lot of heavy braking and hard acceleration, that could
prove quite a burden in qualifying and in the first race. Nevertheless,
with the focus very much on extending SEAT's lead in the BTCC
Manufacturers' table, both Jason and James will be keen to score more
points and end the team's unwanted tradition of scoring DNFs at
Mondello Park.
Jason said: "Mondello hasn't been kind to us in the last
two years – we've performed well, but things just haven't
gone our way. Maybe a bit more Guinness is needed! This time I am really
really looking forward to racing there. Mondello is a very twisty, bumpy,
technical circuit and it should suit our Leon down to the ground. Our
target is two race wins. If we can qualify well, then I think we have
a very strong chance of winning the first two races."
James said: "I've had mixed fortunes myself at Mondello.
I've won a few races and lost a few, but hopefully I can help
change SEAT's record there for the better. It's a circuit
that should suit the Leon very well. It's got short straights,
tight slow corners and enough bumps to shake your fillings loose! But
it's also a circuit you can really attack if you have a good chassis
and a well balanced car – and the Leon is very strong in both
those areas. We proved at Brands Hatch that we have a good race set-up
and although we'll go to Ireland with success ballast because
we're leading the championship, I'm confident we can do
well."
The BTCC race weekend at Mondello Park begins with two 40 minute free
practice sessions on Saturday 22nd April, starting at 10.25 and 12.30,
followed by a 30 minute qualifying session starting at 15.20. Rounds
4, 5 and 6 of the BTCC take place on Sunday 23rd April, with the three
14 lap races starting at 10.55, 13.20 and 15.50.
Motors TV will be broadcasting live throughout race day, while ITV1
will show recorded highlights of the first two races and the third race
live on Sunday afternoon.
SEAT
See series calendar for British
Touring Car Championship 2006
Related Story 10.04.2006 - SEAT
Leads BTCC After Three Wins at Brands Hatch
