This weekend sees the return of the Formula Opel Euroseries to Mondello Park, the highlight of which will be Sunday's 56th Leinster Trophy race. Championship leader Marcelo Battistuzzi of Brazil has won five races but he is one of 10 drivers who can snatch victory at Mondello.
Battistuzzi's main rival is his team mate Giovanni Montanari of Italy, winner of the eighth round at Spa and the Portuguese driver Goncalo Gomes who won at Barcelona. The quality European entry of hotshots all aiming to make it to Formula One includes Dutch driver Sepp Koster, Jorg Bergmeister (Germany), the 18-year-old Italian Andrea Piccini and leading Briton Adam Wilcox.
The DHL Formula Opel Irish Championship will be decided in tomorrow's opening race. Donal Loughrey on 139 points is poised to take the title for the second time, and Vivion Daly on 127 will give it his best shot to improve on his previous best of second in 1991.
Round 10 of the Euroseries will be held tomorrow (last race at 5.10 p.m.), and Round 11 on Sunday is the Leinster Trophy (3.00 p.m.), in which the top six Irish drivers will mix it with the visitors.
The Ford of Ireland Championship for the new Formula Ford Zetec class is also to be decided (Sunday 4.35 p.m.). With £5,000 on offer for the winner to compete in the World Finals at Brands Hatch next month, it has all the ingredients of a pretty potent cocktail.
The points standings tell it all: 1, Noel Dunne 76, 2, Jeff Wright 74, 3, Mark McKenna 67, 4, George McAlpin 59, 5, Chris Paul 52.
The very packed programme also includes races for the mighty TVR Tuscan sports cars with a full UK grid for the championship decider, between Ian Flux and Bobby Verdon-Roe, separated by 23 points and each with six race wins. An new Mondello sports car class for 1998 will be launched on Sunday, and in addition to the car races there are races for sidecars and karts.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)