MOTOR SPORT/Weekly column: Michael Keohane has abandoned this year's British Formula Three Championship after a disastrous start to the season, and the Clonakilty driver is expected to take a different racing direction for 2004. His options will depend on budgets and sponsorship deals.
Tomorrow he makes his Formula 3000 racing debut at Silverstone after signing a one-race contract with the race-winning FIA International F3000 outfit Team Astromega.
Following a successful test with the Belgian team at Spa-Francorchamps last month, Keohane is determined to get a good result in round seven of the European Championship, which will take place directly after the Formula One qualifying for Sunday's British Grand Prix.
Keohane said: "Silverstone is a great place for me to make my Formula 3000 debut. It's a circuit I know well and I am sure I will get plenty of support from the large Irish crowd attending the Grand Prix."
Motorsport Ireland's Young Driver of The Year award winners, Michael Devaney (racing) and Shaun Gallagher (rallying), were in Dublin this week to talk about their progress this season.
Devaney (18) is living near Frankfurt and is now in his second season racing in the high-profile Formula-BMW series, in which he is fourth after 12 rounds. He has had three podium finishes and scored a notable victory in front of 128,000 spectators on the Norisring street circuit.
He says the 1200cc/140bhp Formula-BMW cars have a top speed of around 140mph and have fantastic cornering - like a Formula Three car. His next move is European Formula Three for 2004.
Shaun Gallagher from Letterkenny has packed in a busy programme of seven rallies in the last three months but is hungry for more.
Currently he leads the British Peugeot 206 Super Cup and is second in his class in the Norwegian National Championship and also in both the French Peugeot 206 Cup and French Peugeot 206 "Gravel" Championships.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday - Midland MC, Autocross, Ballinahowen, Athlone, Co Westmeath, 10.30 am; Southern KC, Kart Racing, Tynagh, Portumna, Co Galway, 10.15 am; Limerick MC, Autotest, Foynes, Co Limerick, 5.30 pm.
Sunday - Midland MC, Autocross, Ballinahowen, Athlone, Co Westmeath, 10.30 am; Southern KC, Kart Racing, Tynagh, Portumna, Co Galway, 10.15 am; TDC, Tougher's Industrial Estate, Newbridge, Co Kildare, 1.00 pm.
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