Irish triumph near and far

MOTOR SPORT: Irish racing drivers John O'Hara and Paddy Hogan scored race wins in the Philippines and Britain yesterday.

O'Hara dominated the two final rounds of the Asian Formula Three Championship, beating the new champion Anada Mikola of Indonesia on the Batangas circuit near Manila.

Hogan got a last-minute chance to contest the Formula Renault Winter Championship with Fortec Racing, and got off to a great start by finishing first and second in the two opening rounds at Brands Hatch. Emmet Queenan made an impressive Asian debut, winning the Promotions Class in both races.

A1 Team Ireland's Michael Devaney finished fourth from sixth on the grid in the sprint race of the A1 Grand Prix series at Eastern Creek, Sydney.

He recovered from a first-lap off-track excursion to climb up to sixth in the feature race, only to lose two places behind the safety car. The Irishman was in further trouble when he was penalised 25 seconds for a mistimed overtaking manoeuvre behind the second safety car, which dropped him to 14th.

Devaney scored seven points for Ireland, now ninth in the World Cup of Motorsport, three points behind the Netherlands and Australia.

After four rounds the new A1 Grand Prix Championship is led by France on 71 points from Brazil (53) and Switzerland (47). France have won the last six races, with Nicolas Lapierre the double winner at Eastern Creek in Australia.

Lapierre started from pole position in race one before notching up a fifth consecutive victory in easy fashion. Portugal's Alvaro Parente was second with Nelson Piquet Jr third for Brazil.

Lapierre made that six when he converted pole in race two into maximum points again.

Peter Dempsey finished second to Joey Foster who won his third successive Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Ford final at a rain-soaked Silverstone. Dempsey won his heat and semi- final, but fellow Irish driver Neville Smyth, who also won his semi, spun out of the final.