World Class Mangan Saves Title Hopes Late On - RTA Round 7 Review

By Evan Dalton for RTA Virtual Motorsport


Photo by Evan Walsh

Oscar Mangan left it late in the feature race of Round 7 of the Motorsport.ie RTA BTCC at Silverstone, but still took a crucial race victory in the pursuit of his second drivers championship victory. 


Mangan was also victorious in the opening heat race of the night, but title rival Ronan Doherty still managed to get another win on the board, doing so in Heat 2. 


Pole position went the way of Mangan, and by quite a margin. With straight line speed a paramount focus of the evening, Mangan’s Honda Civic would need to get off the line well and limit the effects of its lower top end compared to the Hyundai’s and Audi. 


Heat 1 

Mangan did get the start he sought after, leading his way through the opening laps and pulling a gap over the rest of the field. 


Darragh Halley started on the front row for the first time in his RTA career, and he defended well from Dan Mould in the opening stages. Eventually, mistakes crept in and Wayne Douglas and Robbie Callaghan were able to promote themselves into the podium places.


Mould was trying to stay with the front runners, and needed to make a move on Evan Walsh. They went door to door into the second and third corners, eventually making contact, dumping Walsh down the order. 


Mould was involved in everything in Heat 1, and found himself in a battle for fifth with Brandon McCaughan. McCaughan revived his defensive tactics from last week’s fight in Knockhill, and stayed in front lap after lap. Mould slipped all the way down to eight position towards the end of the race, losing out to Halley and Dylan McClements. 


It was an easy ride up front for Mangan however, as he took victory over Douglas and Doherty. 


Heat 2

The Dubliner did not get as good a start in Heat 2, and was under pressure from Douglas immediately. They went side by side, but both allowed Doherty to sneak through, and into the lead of the race. 


Mould’s evening of trouble continued, and in the opening minutes of the race he broke too late into turn three, and hit the rears of the front running Mangan and Douglas, sending them sliding off the asphalt. He would eventually be handed a penalty. 


The remainder of Heat 2 saw fairly smooth running. Some contact at the back between Emma Dempsey and Nathan Sweeney, with Darragh Halley taking a trip to the gravel trap of ‘Copse once or twice.’ 


Doherty took the win, with Mould in second and McClements in third. 


Heat 3

Peter McCann lined up on pole position for the feature race with Callaghan alongside. Conor Melia, straight off the back of his best real life Formula Vee weekend to date, in third got the best start of all three. He narrowly missed out on taking the race lead, getting past the bogged down McCann before turn one. 


McCann fell down the order until he settled into a fight with Mould. After multiple attempts, Mould was able to get past and carried on towards the battle for the lead. For McCann, it was not as positive. His race would be brought to a premature end after he was hit by Walsh in ‘Luffield,’ after Walsh misjudged his entry back onto the racing line after serving a slow down penalty. 


Callaghan was putting on what seemed like another defence clinic in RTA’s BTCC. McCaughan went for multiple moves, and could not find a way past.  


McCaughan knew the tricks of the trade from his similar race winning drives this season. He dove down the inside of ‘Brooklands’ and got the overtake completed. It seemed like as long as he kept it clean, he was home for a trifecta of feature race wins in a row. 


One of Ireland’s finest had other thoughts. With four minutes to go, Mangan sat in fourth. He made light work of McClements, and got past Callaghan on the same lap. He had three minutes to catch and pass McCaughan. 


The gap went from seven tenths to two tenths in what felt like instantly. Mangan teed up his first attempt into the same corner McCaughan took the lead, and held it around the outside all the way through the final sector and down the start finish straight. As they reached ‘Copse,’ Mangan allowed McCaughan to outbreak himself slightly and swooped up the inside, pulling off a pristine switchback manoeuvre. 


Despite late race efforts from McCaughan, Mangan took the victory in unbelievable fashion. Callaghan did earn a podium for his drive, and in a crucial twist for the championship, Doherty only managed eight. 


So.. what now? 

The season finale awaits. A return to where this screenplay started. Brands Hatch. Before drop rounds are calculated, 32 points separates first place Doherty and third place McClements, with Mangan thrown in between. The dramatic conclusion of the Motorsport.ie RTA BTCC can be viewed next Tuesday night from 9pm.


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