We have had many drivers through our race team in the last 25 years but I think Erik Holstein has without doubt the best car control we have seen! Despite me telling him that he is over driving on some occasions he doesn’t change his flat out style! When Erik committed to full seasons of the Fiat Punto Abarth & ITCC championships with us in 2004 & 2013 he dominated both, winning almost every race in each series (even with reverse race 2 grids!). So who I am to tell him how to drive! Erik got a call the night before qualifying for the last round of the SEAT Supercup. We got the car the evening before and our team spent a few hours prepping. Erik was hoping for rain and for race 2 he got his wish and managed to get the car on the podium. Here is his on-board with a few of his best saves!! Enjoy! Eoin Erik Holstein Races SEAT Supercup You can’t beat a last minute call up to throw a bit of uncertainty into a racing weekend, getting the chance to race in the Seat Leon Supercup can’t be missed. I’ve always wanted to have a go in these, so jumped at the chance. Unfortunately the car I was driving has an inherent temperature related engine problem which seems to raise its ugly head intermittently, and on cue during qualifying it decided to go all hormonal again. The drop off in power is quite noticeable, and due to the time restraints, its not easy to diagnose, never mind fix. However, I only had 2 real flying laps to get used to the car and the new Yokohama slicks, so we finished up at the rear of the grid. There’s a lot of grip from the tyres when they are new, and by the time Id figured out the braking distances (AP 6 pot c/w 362mm discs & CL brake pads), I had roasted the fronts and it was game over. Throw left foot braking into the mix, and its a steep learning curve in a couple of laps that are meant to be flat out! The standard in this class is very high, and if you’re lacking in any area, you’re slow. Simple as that. The start procedure was a lucky dip affair. There’s a launch control system in these cars, but I wasn’t sure how this was operated, so gave that a miss, and just decided to drive off the line manually. Seemed to work, got a blinder and was up to fourth by turn 2. Once the dreaded engine power drop off kicked in, we just went backwards, as I was a sitting duck down the straights, so it was quite an uneventful race to finish 6th. Apart from a coming together lapping poor Nicole Drought in her ITCC Honda Integra. There’s a big speed difference between our two cars, and unfortunately while lapping here we had a misunderstanding and there was contact. The Seat seems stronger than a Honda, and she came off worse. In hindsight, there was nothing either of us could have done, just one of those things which can happen in mixed class races. Thank God for the guy who invented reverse grids. And for the Irish weather. I was feeling optimistic for race 2, but apparently the set of wets I had were not only used, but also of a hard compound, so I was unsure if I was going to be able to keep pace with the field as everyone else was on brand new soft wets. We led away on the first start from John Farrelly and I thought I was away until the dreaded red flag came out. Typical. Second start was rubbish but it hooked up through second gear and still managed to get into turn 1 first again. Then the fun started. Im not sure what is the quickest way to drive these cars in the pouring rain, but what I was doing definitely isn’t it! Lack of traction and rear grip meant it was borderline lethal trying to keep pace with the others. How it finished the race in tact i’ll never know, but we did, and in third place to boot. So happy enough with that. Having raced pretty much everything in Mondello over the years, I love these cars. They’re a proper factory built race car, and it feels it when you drive them. They’re built for durability, so even though they are high tech, they are relatively easy and affordable to run and maintain. Murray Motorsport put in a huge effort for me and tried their best to cure the problems with this car between races, but its not something which really can be fixed in 1 day. Im sure by the next round in Kirkistown Mick Merrigan and his team will have their car at 100% and back on the pace. Niall Murray destroyed everyone on the day, and by the speed he went by me and on to win, theres quite a lot for me to learn before getting on the winning pace with the Leon, but I can’t wait for the challenge. There’s more new Seat Leon Supercups on the way to Ireland at this time, so it would be great to see some more exciting drivers stepping up over the winter for the 2016 championship. It has all the makings of one of the best saloon car classes we have ever seen here. Looking forward to it already! Erik