Paul O'Neill (racing driver)

BTCC driver


Name = Paul O'Neill
Nationality = flagicon|ENG
Car number = 88
Team = Tech-Speed
Car = Vauxhall Astra Coupé
Championships = 0
Wins = 2
Podiums = 9
Poles = 0
Fastest First win = 2002
Best position = 4th (2003)
Last season = 2006
Last position = 20th (7 points)

Paul O'Neill is a auto racing driver from Widnes of Irish parentage, infamously the half-brother of 'Sporty Spice' Mel C. He was originally attracted to racing after seeing Nigel Mansell win the 1987 British Grand Prix, but did not pursue a career initially, studying for A-Levels but not completing them.

After attending the Jim Russell racing school, he began racing in the MGF cup in 1999 and 2000, before entering the production class of the BTCC in 2001. He did not win a race, but took 3 class podiums and 2 class poles en route to 8th in the class. This was enough to earn him a drive with Team Egg Sport in their semi-works Touring Class Vauxhall for 2002. He was 8th in this championship, and then stepped up to the factory Vauxhall team for 2003, finishing 4th in the series.

He was not expected to retain the drive for 2004, but early that year he discovered that he had diabetes, and his racing license was temporarily withdrawn. Once the condition was under control he did not immediately resume racing, instead helping his former team Tech-Speed prepare their bio-ethanol powered car, tutoring driver Fiona Leggate and fulfilling the post of race engineer. He also raced the guest car in the Porsche Carrera Cup at Oulton Park in 2006 along with some Ginettas Racing.

Following Leggate's premature departure from Tech-Speed, Paul signed for the team to compete in the final two race weekends of the 2006 BTCC season. Ironically this car is powered by sugar beet, which his diabetes prevents him from eating. He scored a 10th place in his first race back. Notably, while most drivers at this September Brands Hatch meeting were slower than they had been at the April meeting due to different track conditions, Paul was over a second faster than Fiona's time from that meeting in some practice sessions. At Silverstone he was hampered by engine issues in practice [http://www.btccpages.com/rounds/2006/28_29_30/oneill_engine.php] but took 2 top 10 finishes on raceday. He did not keep the drive for 2007, Techspeed opting instead to unite with the Turkish Arkas team and run Erkut Kizilirmak. He competed in the final round of 2007 with Motorbase Performance.

Trivia

- Paul is currently a motor racing instructor at the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire.

- In his first season of touring cars (2001), he worked at Ikea to "keep his feet on the ground bringing in a [http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1871652&postcount=690 wage] ".

References

* [http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/news/article.asp?NewsID=1520 Article on Carrera drive]
* [http://www.btccpages.com/driv/oneillpaul.php BTCCpages profile]
* [http://www.owyracing.com OwyRacing Home Page]