BALLYGURTEEN’S Michael Keohane finished his racing return season with a double podium at Brands Hatch.

It saw him secure second place in the Masters’ category of the Porsche Carwow Carrera Cup GB series. 

The decision to end a 23-year sojourn from competitive motorsport, along with switching from single-seater to saloon racing, was a major undertaking to fulfil his desire and long-held ambition to return to motor racing. 

Watched by family and friends that included a strong West Cork contingent, Keohane can now reflect on a season in which he achieved much more than his nine podium finishes across eight different circuits. 

The final double-header at Brands Hatch was on the GP circuit as opposed to the Indy circuit where Keohane had his first Masters win of the season back in April.

‘I really have no experience of the GP track. I have raced on the Indy version several times, but this is totally different,’ he explained.

‘Another test day would have been very beneficial.’

In Saturday afternoon’s 30-minute qualifying session, he was set to finish P2 until the final lap where his Century Motorsport team-mate Carl Cavers, who clinched the Masters Championship last time out at Silverstone, nicked P2 from him by 0.071s. In the race itself, Keohane was quickly into second behind Scottish driver and another Century Motorsport team-mate Henry Dawes. The positions remained the same through to the chequered flag.

In the second race that concluded the series, and benefitting from the 17-lap opening race, Keohane showed great pace as he tried to chase down Dawes. It wasn’t until the third lap when he had overtaken ProAm driver Oliver Meadows (Team Parker Racing) that Keohane was directly behind the Scottish driver. 

On lap seven, Keohane gained 0.706s to move closer. A quicker lap than Dawes on lap seven further closed the distance between them. However, the lack of clean air prevented an overtaking manoeuvre, as it had when Keohane was the quicker of the pair on laps 12 to 14 inclusive. By then, both had incurred five-second penalties for exceeding track limits. 

While Keohane finished off his campaign with a strong final lap, a second track limit penalty saw him drop to third in the Masters category behind winner Dawes and Cavers, who was promoted to second. 

‘Overall I am delighted with the way the season panned out. We had strong form in the second part of the season. It was great to see all the people that travelled over to support us this weekend and indeed, throughout the season, it’s much appreciated,’ he said.

Century Motorsport team boss Nathan Freke summarised Michael’s season. 

‘It's been enjoyable, there have been ups and downs for sure. Obviously, a bit of a shaky start with a couple of DNFs (did not finish) and whatnot. Then we’ve really seen Michael just improve, gel with the car and get some really, really great results.’ 

In the overall context, the Century Motorsport supremo added: ‘It’s been a good first year for sure. He’s been a long time out of the saddle. It’s a very different world now as well, coming back to it. And these cars (Porsche Carrera) aren’t the easiest cars to drive either, very different to what he was used to.

‘For sure, it’s been a little bit of an adjustment for him to come in and do it. But he’s integrated with the team really well. It’s been a really good environment with him around, and it’s lovely to see how much support he gets as well, especially this weekend at Brands. On reflection he should be happy as well.’ 

Meanwhile, Ballylickey’s Colin Cronin made a surprise appearance in the Porsche Carwow Sprint Challenge Great Britain series. In qualifying, he had the CCK Motorsport car in P6 and although he took the chequered flag in seventh place, a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits demoted him to ninth.

He was sixth in Saturday's second race and a fine fifth on Sunday’s third and final race where he showed great pace.  

‘It was just an opportunity that came about last Wednesday, the seat became available and I'll take up any opportunity I get to race,’ Cronin explained.

‘For me, it's just making myself learn different cars and hopping into different things and be able to get quite close. I think in each of the races we’ve developed the car. I think I’ve made the car a lot better, definitely much more to what I like anyway.’

Team manager of the Sussex-based CCK Motorsport Ali Rainford said, ‘It’s fantastic to have Colin in the car. I think he’s done a fantastic job for someone who’s never actually sat in a Porsche before, and to be only three, four tenths off in qualifying with the front runners who have been in the car for two to three years. Each time he gets in the car, he’s going quicker, which is fantastic. He's learning the car because from qualifying to new tyres to used tyres in a race, it is a completely different race car.'