Murray about to fire opening salvo in 2005 European Alfa Romeo Challenge

[Phil]

Double Dunlop/Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year Eoin Murray heads to Monza this week to compete in the opening round of the European Alfa Romeo Challenge.



Racing with team PRS Group, again for the 2005 season, Eoin, who took five podiums out of eleven races in 2004, is confident of achieving even better results this year. ‘’I am driving even better this year. I have been working on my fitness over the winter and those long stints in the gym are beginning to pay off. We had a test session in Monza two weeks ago and while there is still some work to be done on the car to have it ‘spot on’ I was satisfied with my overall performance.’’



The European Alfa Romeo challenge consists of eleven rounds over six weekends starting in Monza on the 9th & 10th of April. The series also travels to Magny Cours in France, Imola Italy, Spa Belgium, Oschersleben Germany & Valencia Spain.



This week is also an important one for Eoin in that he is launching his new look website to coincide with the start of the new season. Eoin’s progress in the series can be followed on www.eoinmurray.com (http://www.eoinmurray.com/). Speaking at the launch of the website Eoin said ‘’ A user friendly website is an important communication tool for any sports person to provide information for sponsors and fans and to provide up to date and accurate information on all aspects of the sport. I am delighted with the new look and hope that as many as possible will log on and follow my progress in the Alfa Romeo Series.’’



Eoin is racing in the 2005 championship with backing from Holfeld F1 Components, Carnegie Sand & Gravel, GaryAron Homes, Alfa Romeo Ireland, Motorsport Ireland and Bill Griffin Motors.

[Alfa Romeo]

Best of luck to Eoin at Magney-Cours tomorrow - deserves continued success:smoke:

[Alfa Romeo]

Congrats Eoin - hopefully the good luck will continue:naughty:

[Phil]

A brace of third place finishes by Dunlop Motorsport Ireland Young Irish Driver of the Year Eoin Murray put him in hot contention for the European Alfa championship at Magny-Cours this weekend. The two third place finishes were a good return from the hotly contested races to place him in joint leadership of the championship with Italian driver Maurizio Campani.



On pole position for race one but a problem at the start saw him drop back to fifth by the first corner however not to be daunted by this he battled back and by lap four got ahead of Massimiliano Fantini. By lap seven he got up to third place but the gap to the leaders at that point meant he had to settle for the last spot on the podium and set the fastest lap (1.57.584) in the process.



Starting from row two of the grid for the second race of the weekend the competition was still fierce and Eoin found himself fifth overall behind championship rival Maurizio Campani an error by Campani dropped him to ninth. Murray worked his way through the field to annex the final step of the podium and a handsome haul of championship points.



Speaking afterwards the Alfa Romeo Ireland backed driver said ‘’ I am satisfied with how the weekend went. I was second in the championship after Monza and these results mean that I am now the joint leader. My objective this year is the Championship and I have to be satisfied with how that is going at the moment. I am looking forward, already, to the next round at Imola in three weeks time.



Eoin is racing in the 2005 championship with backing from Holfeld F1 Components, Carnegie Sand & Gravel, GaryAron Homes, Alfa Romeo Ireland, Motorsport Ireland and Bill Griffin Motors. You can follow Eoin’s progress by logging on to his new look website www.eoinmurray.com (http://www.eoinmurray.com/).