Summerhill teenager in flying form on the track

Eimear Carey from Summerhill achieved seventh place at the Tillotson T4 Karting World Cup Championships which took place over a weekend recently at Whiteriver Park near Collon in Co Louth. The 15-year-old was among the grid of 91 drivers from 14 countries.

Now in its second year, the Tillotson T4 Karting World Cup has expanded from a single category for senior drivers to include a T4 Mini class for eight to 12-year-olds and the T4 Junior class Carey competed in is aimed at drivers from 11 to 16-years-old.

Eimear comes from a family steeped in the world of karting as her older sister Laura and younger brother Ian compete as part of the family race team - Norris Carey Motersport (NCM) - which is run by their father Noel.

The T4 Kart Series was developed by Tralee-based Tillotson Racing as an affordable series to encourage new participants into kart racing.

First introduced in Ireland three years ago there are now over 300 drivers competing in 30 countries around the world with plans to expand even further.

Eimear Carey, a third years student at Dunshaughlin Community College, is more familiar with racing her IAME X30 Junior 125cc kart in the Motorsport Ireland Karting Championship and this was her first time racing the 225cc four-stroke T4 Junior, but she was immediately on the pace during test sessions which took place on the Friday.

Saturday got under way with a six-minute qualifying session where drivers tried to set their best lap time to secure a good starting place for the three heats in the afternoon.

Carey set her fastest lap time on her final lap and qualified in second place, less than four-hundredths of a second off the fastest time.

This meant she would start the day’s three heats from second place.

As the first heat got underway the Summerhill teenager dropped back to fourth place through the first corner due to being on the more difficult off-pole side of the track and was then in a three kart battle for third place for several laps with the positions changing almost corner by corner.

She made the decisive move into the last corner at the end of lap three to take third position and began to open a gap to the chasing karts, however the lead two karts had already opened a sizeable lead by this stage and Carey maintained her position to the end of the race.

Heat two started much the same as the first with Carey dropping back to fourth position but this time the top five spent the entire race locked together and she crossed the line in fourth place. Postrace time penalties for two drivers overtaking under yellow flags then promoted her to second place.

Unfortunately, technical issues in the third heat saw Carey drop back through the pack in the opening laps before the kart stopped on lap three.

She managed to get it started again, but was then a lap down on the leaders and finished this race in last place.

With the points from Saturday’s three heats added together it meant Carey would start in fifth place for Sunday morning’s super-heat with the points for the super heat then added to Saturday’s total to decide the starting positions for the final.

Starting on the good side of the grid, the Summerhill driver climbed to third place as the karts exited the first corner and fought hard all race long to keep the chasing karts behind her to cross the line in third place.

This placed her in fifth place on the grid for the final on the good side of the track, and again meant she came out of the first corner in third place.

With the karts all well-matched for pace she was in a five-way battle for the last of the podium positions and maintained that position up until lap seven where she dropped back to got forced wide and dropped back to sixth place.

Despite her attempts to regain the lost positions, she was unsuccessful and crossed the line in seventh place.

The Summerhill teenager finished the event as the highest-placed female driver and now turns her attention to the remaining rounds of the Motorsport Ireland Karting Championship where she is currently lying in eighth place and third in the Rookie Championship.