It’s safe to say the bank holiday weekend was a busy one for Team Japspeed – while the UK guys were at Modified Nationals with Maxxis Tyres, Shane O’Sullivan and Japspeed Ireland were busy competing in Prodrift Round 2, Fermoy, in the RB25-powered S15.
After Shane reached the final 8 during BDC Round 2 last weekend, the team were hoping for a bit better luck after the S15’s usually impeccable reliability let them down while competing against Matt Carter in the Falken S14. With the engine issues now fixed it was time to get back out and show what the combination of Japspeed S15 + Shane O’Sullivan could really do!
Straight into qualifying, and Shane looked to be getting to grips with the S15 once and for all scoring a massive 82 points on just his second run. Despite having the bigger, heavier RB25 up front, the S15 is a very twitchy chassis which can be very difficult initially. Shane’s skill meant this wasn’t the case, qualifying 6th overall after another set of awesome qualifying runs.
Into the top 16, and Shane was paired against previous champion Mike Deane. In the first set of rounds there was really nothing in it, with the pair having to go ‘One More Time’ before dictating a winner. This time round Mike Deane was pushing hard, and with power issues on the RB25 S15 Shane just couldn’t quite keep with Mike putting him out, who would later go on to win Round 2.
‘It’s a real shame about the car being down on power’ explains Japspeed UK Chairman Paul McCallum. ‘We think it’s down to the fuel being used, we’re going to bring the car here, get it mapped on race fuel and then hopefully Shane and the rest of the team will be back on top form’.
