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It looked like a scene straight out of a new action movie – but as Michael Fassbender sped down the track at Mondello Park, Co. Kildare, on Sunday, he was not acting but racing.
The Hollywood star swapped the Oscars for rally cars as he took part in the yearly end of season Six-Hour Endurance Race at Ireland’s most famous motorsports venue.
Fassbender was joined by Irish driving legends David Kennedy and Tommy Byrne in the contest which finished as the sun set.
Dressed in white overalls, the X-Men actor spent the day in the Fass lane as he raced in an unmodified red Fiesta Zetec, fitted with a roll cage and capable of speeds of 120kph.
He said: ‘I really enjoyed today. It was a fun day and I’d love to do it again.’
Fassbender, who grew up in Killarney, Co. Kerry, plays the lead in the new David Fincher-directed film, The Killer, which was released in cinemas on October 27.
His character in the movie may be an assassin but he prefers yoga and hawaiian shirts to fast cars and racing overalls.
The Inglourious Basterds star, 46, made his motorsport debut in 2017 at Scuderia Corsa’s Ferrari Challenge and took part in Le Mans for the first time last year.
The race did not go to plan as Fassbender’s team came 51st out of 62 in the 24-hour race.
He returned for this year’s edition but was unable to finish the 342 laps.
Kennedy and Byrne completed Fassbender’s team on the actor’s first visit to the iconic racetrack.
Sligo-born Kennedy was one of Ireland’s first Grand Prix drivers.
Byrne was born in Dundalk, Co. Louth and qualified for two Formula One races in his career.
The actor, who was born in Heidelberg in Germany, has been nominated for two Oscars in a career spanning more than two decades.
His performance as a slave-owner in the 2013 film 12 Years a Slave earned him a selection in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Fassbender also made it to the shortlist for Best Actor in 2015 for his role as the founder of tech giant Apple in the movie Steve Jobs.
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