Kevin O'Hara on top in Mondello showstopper- Irish Formula Vee Round 7

By Evan Dalton

 

O’Hara leads Byrne, Hannan and Melia| Photo by Shane O’Neill


With the sun beaming across county Kildare, the Irish Formula Vee grid prepared for their first outing on Mondello Park’s International layout. Stretching just over 3.6 kilometres, the tight twists and long sweeping corners posed a different challenge to that of the national variation. 


Wicklow’s Jack Byrne entered the weekend as championship leader. His form in 2026 has been remarkable, even with a slight bump in the road last time out, losing the victory to Conor Melia. Melia was the challenger for this weekend once again, with Gavin Buckley still out of action.


The track was extremely pleasant in comparison to the previous round’s oil-filled nightmare. Qualifying took place just before the main heat of the day, and 17 cars hit the circuit as the clock struck 11. 


Returning to action for the weekend was the experienced Kevin O’Hara. His three outings in 2025 were extremely fruitful, taking one win at Kirkistown and one podium on Leinster Trophy weekend last September. He set the qualifying pace early, with two very fast laps.


Byrne got close, but ultimately couldn’t topple O’Hara. He would have to settle for the outside of the front row, trailing the Kildare man. Kieran Hannan would beat Melia to third, a personal best lap for Hannan on the International loop. 


The task for the rest to beat O’Hara would be massive. Not only is he a lap record holder, in a Vee, at Mondello, he is a former Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year, and a man with international acclaim in the world of car racing. 


On the other end of the spectrum, the grid featured two newcomers. Devin Ucar and Jack Wynne. Ucar is the latest protégé of James Friel Motorsport and joined the team in the car most recently raced by Kevin Joyce. Ucar is a kart racer from Germany, and for the foreseeable future the towns of Schifferstadt and Clonmany are twinned. 


Wynne would take to the grid as the third and final RTA Virtual Motorsport Formula Vee Ireland scholarship driver. From Baldoyle, the popular sim racing content creator brought a large fan base to Mondello this weekend. 


As the lights went out, Byrne and Melia bolted from the front two rows. The pole sitter, O’Hara, bogged down, and fell to fourth almost instantly. Hannan had momentum on the leaders on the run to the first apex. 



And we go racing for Round 7! | Photo by @RaceDayDori

The race wouldn’t continue for much longer however, as unfortunately Pat Sheppard and Harry Dowling made contact adjacent to the flag stand, and both ended up hitting the wall. Both drivers were uninjured after medical checks, with a lengthy clearup halting track action. 


The restart ran a similar theme. Byrne and Melia shot off the line, leaving O'Hara in their wake. The quickest starter of the entire field was Karl O’Sullivan on Row 4, who was challenging O’Hara early on. 


Melia pressured Byrne through turn three, allowing O’Hara to get close. He pulled off a worldie on the run back down the hill, making the move around the outside of turn four. The single seater ace charged up the road. 


Further back, an unfortunate moment for the Tyredoctor.ie B Championship leader Niall O’Mara, who spun on the exit of 7B, better known as ‘Tarzan.’ He rejoined in last. 


O’Hara and Melia kept the pressure on Byrne, who had returned to his traditional defensive tactics. It certainly wasn’t the first time a Byrne lead was under threat in Kildare this season, but he continued to lap with confidence. 


The early laps featured plenty of overtakes from Harry Fagan and Andy Keogh. Both drivers suffered car trouble in qualifying, and swapped to an alternative machine for the race. Fagan jumped from his Selco Hygiene JH004 to one in the possession of stand-in team principal, Kevin Gillespie. Keogh returned to his old Sheane chassis, and charged through the field. The art of the T-Car had returned. 


Byrne started to stretch his legs, but the gap was quickly reduced when the green machine went off to cut some grass through the second final corner. The front four all had a plethora of errors, understandable with the mental and physical effort needed to succeed in this spectacle. 


O’Hara made the move past Byrne for the lead into Tarzan, diving down the inside and making it stick. The gap was left open for Melia, who quickly placed his SM Racing nose cone alongside his opposition's front axle, but didn’t have the pull off the corner to capitalise. His loss of momentum gave Hannan the opportunity to pass in the final corner, which he did. 


No matter the calibre of opponent, Byrne will go down swinging. He repositioned his car on the inside of turn one, getting back past O’Hara, and dancing his way through turn two and three. O’Hara recreated his positioning for the move on Melia through turn four, and forced Byrne wide, giving the Kildare man the lead. It was a position that he would hold until the chequered flag. 


The win was decided by 0.057 seconds after nearly 12 minutes of racing as O’Hara claimed his first win of 2026. 

“It was a last minute decision to do it,” commented O’Hara on his decision to race. “I definitely wouldn’t say it was perfect. Bad starts, lots of mistakes, but good racing and an enjoyable day out.”

Championship leader Byrne comes home in second, with Hannan in third. O’Hara becomes the fifth winner in seven races, as Hannan takes his third podium on the spin. 


Tyredoctor.ie B Championship honours went the way of O’Sullivan, who beat Colin Lewis by over a second to take his first class win of the year. Debutant Ucar held on to the rookie championship trophy ahead of Wynne


It is unlikely that O’Hara will return to the circuit this year, but plans to make a competitive return in 2027. “I’ll try to do something next year a bit better, maybe actually do some testing and some proper racing,” he said post race. 



Byrne now holds a comfortable championship lead, but Irish Formula Vee is only getting better in 2026. With the biggest races of the year left in store, and a pilgrimage across the pond to Silverstone next up, Ireland’s largest single seater racing class is one to watch. 


Full Top 10 

  1. O’Hara

  2. Byrne

  3. Hannan

  4. Melia

  5. O’Sullivan

  6. Lewis

  7. Keogh

  8. Ucar

  9. Wynne

  10. O’Mara


Fastest Lap : 1.55.286  [O’Hara]


Tyredoctor.ie B Championship Podium

  1. O’Sullivan

  2. Lewis

  3. Keogh


Rookie Championship Podium

  1. Ucar

  2. Wynne

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