Murray becomes SEAT Champion with double win
Murray Motorsport’s Niall Murray has become the inaugural SEAT Supercup Ireland Champion following an unrivaled performance in Kirkistown yesterday, where a double victory added another title to the young Firhouse driver’s impressive motor racing CV.
Making their first visit to Kirkistown this year, the County Down circuit played host to the final two rounds of the new SEAT Supercup Ireland series. Approaching 10 cars on the grid, it’s been a strong debut season for the series that uses a SEAT Leon Supercopa Mk2, a purebred racing car with a turbo charged two litre engine and a steering wheel mounted paddle shift gearbox.
Murray got his weekend off to the best possible start in qualifying by securing pole position for the opening race of the day.
Launching his Murray Motorsport supported SEAT Leon into the lead at the first corner as race one got underway, it quickly became apparent that Murray was in a class of his own amongst his rivals. Encountering some support class traffic during the race couldn’t even hinder his charge to a victory margin of over seven seconds with his fastest lap below the circuit’s Saloon Car lap record.
Saturday afternoon’s race two, the final round of the series was going to be more of a challenge for Niall, who now started from the back of the grid following the reverse grid selection. Following another lightning start, Murray charged his way up to fourth in the opening part of the race. Now behind the experienced Michael Cullen, Murray’s charge to the front was about to become more challenging. However Niall quickly slipped past the former Ferrari driver before a superb move on John Farrelly at the high-speed Debtors corner slotted him into second and now in sight of championship rival, Rod McGovern.
Hunting down the race leader, Murray tried a number of moves out of the hairpin to set himself up for a similar move into Debtors, but McGovern had it covered to remain in front. Niall eventually managed to position himself for a better drive out of the final Hairpin and in a drag race past the start finish line, through Debtors and down to Colonial, Murray had placed his CL Brakes supported Leon on the right hand side of the circuit which allowed him to move into the lead coming out of Colonial one. Now out in front, Murray began to drive away form McGovern and secure his second victory of the weekend allowing him to seal the 2015 SEAT Supercup Ireland crown.
Niall Murray – #6 Murray Motorsport SEAT Leon Supercopa:
“It’s been a fantastic weekend to end a brilliant season of racing. We just barely missed the first round with the car having some issues but since then, over the 4 weekends I’ve had three poles, six fastest laps and four wins. A massive thanks to my team Murray Motorsport who did a fantastic job as the car felt fantastic at each round! Thanks also to SEAT Ireland, SEAT Sport, Yokohama Tyres and everyone else involved in getting the SEAT Supercup Ireland series off the ground, it is just the class that Ireland needs! Finally a big thank you to my sponsors Murray Motorsport, CL Brakes, OMP Racing, Fish Graphics and P1 : Digital for their support in 2015.”
