Carroll right on course to make step up to F1 with Irish link-up on cards
Irish A1 ace Adam Carroll is set to drive in Formula One next season and has his sights set on joining a new Irish-owned F1 team which is aiming to join the grid in 2010.
Carroll and A1 Team Ireland lead the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and are heading to Brands Hatch on Sunday week and the Portadown man is hoping that success in that series will prove the launching pad for a drive in F1.
With three wins, six podiums, four poles and four fastest laps in A1GP this season, Carroll is hot property once again and believes he has much to offer an F1 team.
"I'm looking at my options for next year," he said. "This has been a great season, but I'm also looking at other opportunities and there may be options for me in F1, especially with new teams expected to come into the series."
Carroll has raced against and beaten several current F1 drivers, including Nelson Piquet Junior and Nico Rosberg, and two weeks ago in Portugal, he added the scalp of former Toro Rosso F1 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, who is expected to be promoted to the Force India squad shortly.
The announcement yesterday that Irishman Martin Birrane is evaluating a move into F1 next year with his Lola Racing Cars company could be the encouragement Carroll needs.
budget
Birrane, who counts ownership of Mondello in an extensive business portfolio, decided to embark on an F1 project after the FIA announced that it was going to encourage teams to adopt a budget cap of $30m a season
Meanwhile, rally legend Billy Coleman is looking forward to losing his mantle as the only Irish driver to win the British Rally Championship after fellow Corkman Keith Cronin's winning start to the season.
Coleman won his British title in 1974 and Cronin, who won the Motorsport Ireland-supported Billy Coleman Award in 2007, became the first Irish driver since then to lead the series, with victories in the first two rounds of the series.
And the impact of Cronin's double was almost matched on the Pirelli International in Cumbria last weekend when Craig Breen was awarded the Star Drive of the Rally award for winning the Fiesta class.
"I'd be delighted if Keith could go on to win the title, and the way he's driving he must have every chance," said Coleman.
In Autotesting, Eddie Peterson has clinched the Hewison Championship for the fifth year in a row. The Mini Special driver edged out Steven Ferguson by seven points. Elsewhere, this weekend the Irish Motor Racing Club promote the race action at Mondello Park.
- Declan Quigley
