Current Dunlop Motorsport Ireland Young Racing of the Year Kevin O’Hara made his first visit to the UK this season in his Irish Sports Council and Dunlop supported Formula Ford at Oulton Park. As a new visitor to the Cheshire venue, O’Hara was looking forward to the challenge of measuring himself against some new opposition over the weekend.
Friday’s test session was greeted with wet conditions making car setup and learning the track difficult to master. However O’Hara showed his immense talent once again and was quickly the fastest driver on the circuit for the remainder of the day.
Saturday morning was more pleasant with sunny skies providing a dry circuit for the opening free practice session. As the session got under way, Kevin had to pit early with an overheating engine which ended his session early. Thankfully there was no damage done and the car was quickly repaired in time for qualifying.
With his free practice drama now out of the way, O’Hara was looking forward to carrying his Friday testing form into qualifying. Despite a quick pit stop by his crew to replace a punctured tyre, O’Hara earned himself pole position for Saturday afternoon’s race one.
A good get away in race one was hampered with contact on the run down to the first corner demoting Kevin down to third. However over the next few laps O’Hara quickly made his way back into the lead, which he would keep for the remaining six laps of the race to the chequered flag winning on his debut race at the Cheshire circuit.
Ensuring there was no repeat of his early race one drama, O’Hara got a good start, however the early laps were extremely close between O’Hara and his main rival Skylar Robinson. This made for a very exciting battle for the first half of the race. By lap seven, O’Hara was now starting to break free from the pack and built a comfortable lead at the head of the field, in the process setting the fastest lap of the race on his way to taking his second win of the weekend.
Speaking after the race, a clearly delighted Kevin O’Hara said: “this has been a fantastic weekend. I’m really happy with how quickly I learned the circuit and I have to say I really enjoyed both races. I must say a big thank you to my sponsors, Motorsport Ireland, The Irish Sports Council, Dunlop and KCMG for their continued support. Also to Bernard Dolan for preparing a great car and to everyone at Oulton Park for all there help and making us so welcome over the weekend.”
Kevin’s next event will be at Mondello Park on Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th July.
You can follow Kevin’s progress throughout the season on his website: www.kevinohararacing.com – on twitter @kevinohara1 – and on facebook www.facebook.com/kevinohararacingp1