Irish adventure brings Boardman closer to rivals.

For the first time in his fledgling touring car career, young Tom Boardman heads to an event on a level footing with most of his rivals, as the BTCC heads towards its Emerald Isle debut.

Rounds nine and ten of the British Touring Car Championship are being held across the Irish Sea this weekend, at Mondello Park near Dublin, and only a handful of the competitors have raced there before, levelling the playing field for Boardman.

In the previous rounds, many of the BTC Production class drivers had much more experience of the tracks than the talented teenager but, this time, the 17-year-old is at no such disadvantage, with most of the field facing the challenge of driving the circuit for the first time in Friday's test session.

To try to gain a slight edge over his rivals, Boardman has been reading up on Mondello Park in a dedicated circuit guide.

"It looks like quite a demanding circuit in the book," he said, "It's good we've got the test on Friday and that should be enough to get to grips with the place. At the end of the day, though, I just see it as another circuit but, hopefully, I'll be able to learn it quicker and better than some of the others."

"I'm really looking forward to it," he adds, "This will be the first time I've raced outside Britain and it should be a great experience. There should be a good crowd there as well as the BTCC has never been to Ireland before and there are a lot of fans over there."

While going to Ireland looking to reach the podium for the first time, after coming very close in recent rounds, Boardman also has another goal - he wants to bring his Peugeot 306 GTi-6 back home damage-free for the first time this year.

In the opening eight races, his all-action style has pleased the crowd but given his father and team-manager John a headache with all the body panels that have needed reshaping or replacing.

"I've lost count of how many panels we've changed so far this year," says Britain's youngest-ever BTCC racer, "This weekend, I want to stay out of trouble and get a good result. It's a long way to go just to get your car wrecked, and I think dad wants time off from repairing it as well!"

After testing on Friday, Boardman faces a half-hour qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, before the real action gets underway at 1230 on Sunday.