After a dominant year, Brendan Stone finally claimed the 2009 Mondello Time Attack Championship title at the series’ final round, which took place alongside the circuit’s annual Japfest car show. The fine summer weather that had blessed many of this season’s Time Attack rounds was nowhere to be seen this time, however, and the Co. Kildare circuit was inundated with heavy rain all day. Although it had stopped falling by the time of the final session, in the interest of fairness it was decided that an open-pit final would be run, instead of the planned single-lap shootout, as the track was still drying out.

Stone is a driver who enjoys wet conditions greatly, and at the end of the session his winning margin over second-placed Brian Sexton was just over a second. Last year’s title winner had an eventful round – in one of the day’s earlier qualifying sessions he collided with eventual sixth-place finisher Shane Rabbitt after Club Class Peugeot 206 driver Danny Callanan braked hard in front of him on the main straight in very wet conditions. The JOMO pit crew worked hard to get the car repaired for the final, where Sexton recorded a 1:07.789 to finish second. Subsequently it emerged that additional cuts had been made in the tread of the tyres on Sexton’s car in the course of the day, which is in contravention of the Time Attack regulations. According to JOMO, this was an unintentional oversight, and once it came to light Sexton immediately requested that he be disqualified of all points earned at this round, which left him fourth in the overall championship table.

Martin Tracey arrived at Mondello on the day with two cars in tow – his RWD Ford Sierra and his 4WD Lancer Evo. The terrible weather conditions meant the Evo was the obvious one to use, and Tracey survived an excursion into the gravel at Honda to record third-fastest time of the day and secure third place in the championship. As has been the case at previous rain-affected rounds this year, TDP team boss Robbie Thornton was not in contention for the overall win in his spectacular Nissan Skyline, but the points earned from his fifth-place finish on the day were enough to secure him the runner-up spot in the championship.

Finishing just ahead of Thornton was UK visitor Robin Duxbury in his Redbrick Racing Lancer Evo. This £250,000 car had been in flying form during a test session the previous evening, when it lapped the circuit in 59.1 seconds. Both driver and car struggled to get used to a wet Mondello on Sunday, however, eventually finishing fourth with a time of 1:10.198. Elsewhere, Brian Moore capped off a fine debut year with seventh place in his Subaru Impreza. His consistent finishing record throughout the year was reflected in his fifth place in the overall standings. Tuning Factory brought out its ex-J’s Racing Honda CR-X for a one-off appearance, but experienced racing driver Barry Rabbitt was limited in what he could with the highly capable FWD car in the very wet weather. Jeffrey Healy was also campaigning a CR-X, but was focusing on setting up his newly built car ahead of a concerted campaign in 2010. James Hughes debuted his new Honda Integra Type R, which previously competed in circuit racing in the UK and should be a big threat in 2010 once a few teething issues are sorted out.

Chris McConnon finished out his year with ninth place on the day and in the Pro championship standings with a lap of 1:14.814. His fellow Honda driver Philip Burdock had sorted the supercharger issues that had hampered him the previous day, but, along with Jeffrey Healy, had his fastest time deleted by the officials due to a yellow-flag infringement in qualifying.

In the Club Class, Dean Reilly racked up yet another win to claim the championship title he had looked like winning since early in the year. Jason Carolan finished a very strong second after working through the night to replace his Civic’s 1.8-litre engine, which had blown in the Saturday test session, with a 1.6-litre unit. Behind him, Darryl Scully made his second appearance on the Club Class podium this year, this time in his new EF Honda Civic, which looks like it has the potential to be a major force in the class next year. He finished ahead of Chris O’Connor, who was driving a borrowed 1.8-litre turbo VW Scirocco being run by JOMO. A new steering rack had to be sourced for the car after the original broke during testing, and O’Connor enjoyed his ‘guest drive’ greatly. Mark Harman’s Citroën Saxo was also being run by JOMO on the day, and he finished sixth after a harmless off into the gravel at Dunlop. The Club Class field was completed by Aaron Dalton and Matthew Sims in seventh and eight, Shane and Barry Rabbit’s younger brother Keith in his Mini Cooper in ninth and David O’Sullivan in his Toyota Starlet in tenth, returning to the series after sitting out several rounds.

CHAMPIONSHIP TOP TENS AFTER ROUND 6/6

PRO CLASS
Pos Driver Points
1 Brendan Stone 73
2 Robbie Thornton 69
3 Martin Tracey 65
4 Brian Sexton 57
5 Brian Moore 56
6 Shane Rabbitt 52
7 Philip Burdock 51
8 James Hughes 42
9 Chris McConnon 35
10 Jeffrey Healy 20

CLUB CLASS
Pos Driver Points
1 Dean Reilly 77
2 Neill Dunne 68
3 Jason Carolan 66
4 Darryl Scully 60
5 Mark Harman 56
6 Keith Quille 43
7 Chris O’Connor 30
8 Chris McConnon 23
9 Aaron Dalton 17
10 Enda Staunton 9