O’Brien-Motorsport Ireland Young Racing Driver of the Month: April 2016
Dubliner Andy O’Brien has been selected as the Young Racing Driver of the Month for April. The 22 year-old from Templeogue won both of the Tool Dynamics Supercar races at Mondello Park on April 17, also setting fastest lap each time, and went on to score another victory and a second place at the next outing at Bishopscourt, in Co Down, with another fastest lap. This gives him a clear lead in the Supercar Championship with four of its twelve rounds completed.
Andy started motor racing in 2010, at the age of 16, in the Ginetta Junior class, winning two races in his first three months to finish the year as runner-up in the series. He took the title in the following year, leading to a prize drive for 2012 in several rounds of the UK Ginetta GT5 Challenge. In 2014, he won the Formula Ford 1600 Champion of Mondello Series. Although he is contesting the Supercar Championship this year, with its prize of a Dutch Supercar drive at the end of the year, he wants to return to single seaters and would like to race in the British Formula Ford Championship.
Among the highlights of his racing career to date are the two occasions when he was previously selected as Young Racing Driver of the Month, and also his first podium finish in the Ginetta UK series at Donington Park.
Andy has worked as a technician for Frank Keane BMW since leaving school. His sponsors are Specialist Cars Ireland, Tool Dynamics, Sunday World, O’Brien Diaries, Kinsella Cylinder Heads and ProSHOTS.
Having been selected as the first Driver of the Month for the 2016 season, Andy is now a contender for the prestigious Motorsport Ireland Young Racing Driver of the Year Award and the historic Sexton Trophy. This award is presented annually and is supported by Sport Ireland (formerly the Irish Sports Council) and Motorsport Ireland.