CTCRC & TCR UK Donington Park 22nd & 23rd March 2025
The Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s 2025 season kicked off on the National layout at Donington Park on the 22nd and 23rd of March. The CTCRC celebrated its 50th anniversary during 2024 and a half-century had now passed since the club's inaugural race at Silverstone in 1975. The club secured a new sponsorship deal with Scalextric for this year that, in a nice touch, saw the cars adorned with the company’s logo from the appropriate era for each category.
Pre '66
Qualifying: Rain in the night had left the track greasy for the first of the club’s categories to qualify. The drying track meant that the session got quicker and quicker as each of the fifteen minutes passed for the bumper entry of 34 cars, with most of the fastest times coming right at the end of the session. Irishman Michael Cullen put his JRT-prepared Cortina on pole position by 0.927 seconds with his last lap to head ex-JSCC racer Oliver Law in the Lotus Cortina that he would share with his father Justin. The flowing nature of the National layout should suit Piers Grange’s Class A Mustang and he trailed the Cortina in second by just 0.064 seconds as he headed the second row, with Barry Sime’s diminutive Mini Cooper S from Class C joining the V8 Ford as 1.167 seconds separated them. Garry Townsend put his Cortina fifth ahead of 2024 Pre ‘66 champion Ian Thompson’s newly-built Cortina which was just 0.109 seconds slower. Jake Swann’s Ford Anglia from Class C was just a shade down on Thompson in seventh and Simon Gusterson’s Cortina was another tenth back in eighth. Peter Smith’s Cortina, a race winner at the equivalent 2024 meeting, set the ninth fastest time from championship sponsor James Everard’s Alfa Romeo GT that rounded out the top ten. There was an influx of Hillman Imps and its Singer sister in Class E, with James Ibbotson qualifying fastest of the eight rear-engined saloons in sixteenth overall and went 0.993 seconds quicker than Steven Platts in second. 2023 champion Billy Kenneally’s weekend ended prematurely when his Anglia 105e expired in a cloud of smoke and steam without even setting a time after head gasket failure.
Race One: The start was held briefly after Tim Dodwell’s Mini broke down on the warm-up lap but marshal muscle power soon got the Mini Cooper S that he drives to the circuits to a place of safety in the pitlane. Michael Cullen found a wrong cog off the line and V8 power told as Piers Grange thundered into the lead from the second row by Redgate. A fast-starting Garry Townsend launched into second place, with the polesitter entering the first corner side-by-side with Oliver Law and was ahead by the apex. Cullen clawed back up to second by the top of the Craner Curves, with Law also demoting Townsend by Coppice for the first time. The Mustang held the Cortinas of Cullen and Law at bay for much of the first half of the fifteen minutes, with Cullen often taking a look into the Old Hairpin and Law tried to unseat the Irishman from second place on a couple of occasions. When the trio encountered traffic, Cullen slipped by at the Roberts Chicane and raced away to win by 5.848 seconds. Youngster Law had already gained second place from Grange when the muscle car spun at the Roberts Chicane and the Mustang lost further ground when it ran off track at Redgate. Another trio of Cortinas fought over fourth, Garry Townsend initially led the group but Peter Smith came through to lead Simon Gusterson over the line from Townsend after grabbing third with a tyre-smoking move into the Roberts Chicane midway through the race, all three having got ahead of Grange when he rotated. Barry Sime and Jake Swann had an entertaining dice for Class C honours after Swann's Anglia took the class lead at Redgate on lap one but the Scot’s Mini held sway for much of the race once he'd dived up the inside into the Roberts Chicane at the end of the opening lap. However, Swann’s Anglia got in front again with just under two minutes to go after a better run onto the pit straight but Sime was able to take the lead back on the final lap into Redgate to prevail by just 0.195 seconds from Swann. The pair picked up a spot overall when Grange ran off the track at Redgate but the duo were outgrunted to the flag by the recovering Mustang, which took sixth by 0.184 seconds from the Mini and the Anglia. Pat Kenneally and Ed Crossley squabbled over ninth early on before Crossley's Mini was overcome by reigning champion Ian Thompson's Lotus Cortina and James Everard's Alfa Romeo, with Kenneally's Cortina not reaching the finish. Steve Platts’ Singer Chamois led Class E early on but was reeled in by Brendan Rooney’s similar purple Hillman example. Rooney drove around the outside of the Old Hairpin to take up the running but a scrape with Lee Williams’ Jaguar threw the class leader off into retirement at Schwantz Curve and handed the class victory to 2021 overall champion James Ibbotson, who had slid up the inside of early leader Platts at Redgate just before Rooney’s retirement. Adrian Oliver took third in the class and was involved in an early internecine Imp battle with Rooney, Ibbotson and Michael Loveland, who lost time with a boxful of neutrals at the Old Hairpin. Stuart Radford reached the end to claim the Class B honours, his Triumph Vitesse the sole entry in the division but there were no finishers in Class D after Charles Norris' Austin A35 pulled off at Hollywood.
Race Two: Day two dawned cold, misty and damp and the Pre '66s were once again the first to venture out. Michael Cullen headed the field away from pole position to lead Simon Gusterson and Garry Townsend into Redgate, with the two Cortinas getting ahead of front-row starter Peter Smith's similar car as it spun its wheels off the line. Smith got back in front of Townsend exiting Redgate and Barry Sime also got by Townsend through Hollywood and launched his Mini up to third at the Old Hairpin, with Jake Swann further demoting Townsend just behind. The Scot's feisty opening few corners saw the Mini up to second after outbraking Gusterson approaching McCleans. Grant Williams and Piers Grange arrived at the Old Hairpin abreast fighting over seventh but Ed Crossley's Mini drove around the outside of the much larger Jaguar and Mustang to briefly claim the place. However, Crossley exited stage left approaching McCleans and his Mini finished up on its roof in the gravel to bring out the Safety Car after Grange had used his V8 grunt to repass the Mini and also take Townsend's sixth place up the hill. Grange had also blasted past the Gusterson, Smith and Swann trio down the Exhibition Straight to be third in the queue, with Smith also passing Gusterson for fourth. The field sat for three laps behind the Safety Car, which came in with six and a half minutes to go. Irishman Cullen controlled the restart well to retain his lead as Grange impressively kept the Mustang on the outside of Sime for second place at Redgate before the Mini's agility saw Sime retain second down the Craner Curves. The top three were as one by the time they reached McCleans, with Cullen coming across to defend from Sime heading up to Coppice. Grange got to the outside of the Mini through Coppice and used his greater straightline speed to take second place, with Swann taking away fourth place from Smith too. The lead train expanded to five cars as Swann and a charging Grant Williams caught the top three. Williams had finished twelfth in Saturday's opening encounter so started Sunday's outing from the sixth row and was already seventh by the end of lap one. Fifth-placed Gusterson spun to the back of the field exiting Redgate and Williams passed Townsend's Cortina to give the Mk2 Jaguar a place inside the top six on the restart lap. Smith fell victim a lap later through Hollywood before he latched onto the tail of the lead group with Swann's Anglia. Grange got alongside Cullen for the lead past the pits with just over three minutes remaining as Swann fought with Sime for the Class C lead in their wake but the order didn't change. Williams claimed fourth place on lap seven when the group came across Tim Dodwell's Mini at Coppice and the Jaguar used its power to claim the place down to the Roberts Chicane. The leading five cars made a stirring sight at the head of the field as each probed their rivals' defences but Cullen would hold on to take a fine win by 0.632 seconds from Grange, who momentarily had his nose in front on the Exhibition Straight with a lap to go, and Sime's Mini in a Class C-winning third. Williams' Jaguar sealed fourth place from Swann as 2.045 seconds covered the first five cars home. After taking over the Lotus Cortina that his son Oliver took to second place on Saturday, Justin Law came through from the back row to sixth place after qualifying out of session, the Cortina flew up fifteen places from dead last to thirteenth before the Safety Car and picked up another three on the restart lap to sit inside the top ten with five minutes left. The ace car preparer was soon on the back of a three-car dice between Smith, 2024 champion Ian Thompson and Ed Gibbs, with the Anglia going well in sixth after a first-lap spin on Saturday saw Gibbs start from down the field in fifteenth. Gibbs and Law passed both the Cortinas of Smith and Thompson on lap seven when Gibbs got up the inside of Thompson at McCleans and Law followed the Anglia past at Coppice before the pair gobbled up Smith by the end of the lap. Gibbs' Anglia was pipped by Law’s Cortina on the last lap at the Roberts Chicane to cross the line in seventh, with Thompson also getting ahead of Smith for eighth and the reigning champion finished right behind the Anglia. Townsend crossed the line in tenth but received a ten-second false start penalty so ended up twelfth as championship sponsor James Everard claimed his place inside the top ten. James Ibbotson was victorious in Class E again in eleventh ahead of Adrian Oliver, whilst Brendan Rooney charged to third in class and was just 0.319 seconds behind Oliver past the flag.
Pre '66
Qualifying: Rain in the night had left the track greasy for the first of the club’s categories to qualify. The drying track meant that the session got quicker and quicker as each of the fifteen minutes passed for the bumper entry of 34 cars, with most of the fastest times coming right at the end of the session. Irishman Michael Cullen put his JRT-prepared Cortina on pole position by 0.927 seconds with his last lap to head ex-JSCC racer Oliver Law in the Lotus Cortina that he would share with his father Justin. The flowing nature of the National layout should suit Piers Grange’s Class A Mustang and he trailed the Cortina in second by just 0.064 seconds as he headed the second row, with Barry Sime’s diminutive Mini Cooper S from Class C joining the V8 Ford as 1.167 seconds separated them. Garry Townsend put his Cortina fifth ahead of 2024 Pre ‘66 champion Ian Thompson’s newly-built Cortina which was just 0.109 seconds slower. Jake Swann’s Ford Anglia from Class C was just a shade down on Thompson in seventh and Simon Gusterson’s Cortina was another tenth back in eighth. Peter Smith’s Cortina, a race winner at the equivalent 2024 meeting, set the ninth fastest time from championship sponsor James Everard’s Alfa Romeo GT that rounded out the top ten. There was an influx of Hillman Imps and its Singer sister in Class E, with James Ibbotson qualifying fastest of the eight rear-engined saloons in sixteenth overall and went 0.993 seconds quicker than Steven Platts in second. 2023 champion Billy Kenneally’s weekend ended prematurely when his Anglia 105e expired in a cloud of smoke and steam without even setting a time after head gasket failure.
Race One: The start was held briefly after Tim Dodwell’s Mini broke down on the warm-up lap but marshal muscle power soon got the Mini Cooper S that he drives to the circuits to a place of safety in the pitlane. Michael Cullen found a wrong cog off the line and V8 power told as Piers Grange thundered into the lead from the second row by Redgate. A fast-starting Garry Townsend launched into second place, with the polesitter entering the first corner side-by-side with Oliver Law and was ahead by the apex. Cullen clawed back up to second by the top of the Craner Curves, with Law also demoting Townsend by Coppice for the first time. The Mustang held the Cortinas of Cullen and Law at bay for much of the first half of the fifteen minutes, with Cullen often taking a look into the Old Hairpin and Law tried to unseat the Irishman from second place on a couple of occasions. When the trio encountered traffic, Cullen slipped by at the Roberts Chicane and raced away to win by 5.848 seconds. Youngster Law had already gained second place from Grange when the muscle car spun at the Roberts Chicane and the Mustang lost further ground when it ran off track at Redgate. Another trio of Cortinas fought over fourth, Garry Townsend initially led the group but Peter Smith came through to lead Simon Gusterson over the line from Townsend after grabbing third with a tyre-smoking move into the Roberts Chicane midway through the race, all three having got ahead of Grange when he rotated. Barry Sime and Jake Swann had an entertaining dice for Class C honours after Swann's Anglia took the class lead at Redgate on lap one but the Scot’s Mini held sway for much of the race once he'd dived up the inside into the Roberts Chicane at the end of the opening lap. However, Swann’s Anglia got in front again with just under two minutes to go after a better run onto the pit straight but Sime was able to take the lead back on the final lap into Redgate to prevail by just 0.195 seconds from Swann. The pair picked up a spot overall when Grange ran off the track at Redgate but the duo were outgrunted to the flag by the recovering Mustang, which took sixth by 0.184 seconds from the Mini and the Anglia. Pat Kenneally and Ed Crossley squabbled over ninth early on before Crossley's Mini was overcome by reigning champion Ian Thompson's Lotus Cortina and James Everard's Alfa Romeo, with Kenneally's Cortina not reaching the finish. Steve Platts’ Singer Chamois led Class E early on but was reeled in by Brendan Rooney’s similar purple Hillman example. Rooney drove around the outside of the Old Hairpin to take up the running but a scrape with Lee Williams’ Jaguar threw the class leader off into retirement at Schwantz Curve and handed the class victory to 2021 overall champion James Ibbotson, who had slid up the inside of early leader Platts at Redgate just before Rooney’s retirement. Adrian Oliver took third in the class and was involved in an early internecine Imp battle with Rooney, Ibbotson and Michael Loveland, who lost time with a boxful of neutrals at the Old Hairpin. Stuart Radford reached the end to claim the Class B honours, his Triumph Vitesse the sole entry in the division but there were no finishers in Class D after Charles Norris' Austin A35 pulled off at Hollywood.
Race Two: Day two dawned cold, misty and damp and the Pre '66s were once again the first to venture out. Michael Cullen headed the field away from pole position to lead Simon Gusterson and Garry Townsend into Redgate, with the two Cortinas getting ahead of front-row starter Peter Smith's similar car as it spun its wheels off the line. Smith got back in front of Townsend exiting Redgate and Barry Sime also got by Townsend through Hollywood and launched his Mini up to third at the Old Hairpin, with Jake Swann further demoting Townsend just behind. The Scot's feisty opening few corners saw the Mini up to second after outbraking Gusterson approaching McCleans. Grant Williams and Piers Grange arrived at the Old Hairpin abreast fighting over seventh but Ed Crossley's Mini drove around the outside of the much larger Jaguar and Mustang to briefly claim the place. However, Crossley exited stage left approaching McCleans and his Mini finished up on its roof in the gravel to bring out the Safety Car after Grange had used his V8 grunt to repass the Mini and also take Townsend's sixth place up the hill. Grange had also blasted past the Gusterson, Smith and Swann trio down the Exhibition Straight to be third in the queue, with Smith also passing Gusterson for fourth. The field sat for three laps behind the Safety Car, which came in with six and a half minutes to go. Irishman Cullen controlled the restart well to retain his lead as Grange impressively kept the Mustang on the outside of Sime for second place at Redgate before the Mini's agility saw Sime retain second down the Craner Curves. The top three were as one by the time they reached McCleans, with Cullen coming across to defend from Sime heading up to Coppice. Grange got to the outside of the Mini through Coppice and used his greater straightline speed to take second place, with Swann taking away fourth place from Smith too. The lead train expanded to five cars as Swann and a charging Grant Williams caught the top three. Williams had finished twelfth in Saturday's opening encounter so started Sunday's outing from the sixth row and was already seventh by the end of lap one. Fifth-placed Gusterson spun to the back of the field exiting Redgate and Williams passed Townsend's Cortina to give the Mk2 Jaguar a place inside the top six on the restart lap. Smith fell victim a lap later through Hollywood before he latched onto the tail of the lead group with Swann's Anglia. Grange got alongside Cullen for the lead past the pits with just over three minutes remaining as Swann fought with Sime for the Class C lead in their wake but the order didn't change. Williams claimed fourth place on lap seven when the group came across Tim Dodwell's Mini at Coppice and the Jaguar used its power to claim the place down to the Roberts Chicane. The leading five cars made a stirring sight at the head of the field as each probed their rivals' defences but Cullen would hold on to take a fine win by 0.632 seconds from Grange, who momentarily had his nose in front on the Exhibition Straight with a lap to go, and Sime's Mini in a Class C-winning third. Williams' Jaguar sealed fourth place from Swann as 2.045 seconds covered the first five cars home. After taking over the Lotus Cortina that his son Oliver took to second place on Saturday, Justin Law came through from the back row to sixth place after qualifying out of session, the Cortina flew up fifteen places from dead last to thirteenth before the Safety Car and picked up another three on the restart lap to sit inside the top ten with five minutes left. The ace car preparer was soon on the back of a three-car dice between Smith, 2024 champion Ian Thompson and Ed Gibbs, with the Anglia going well in sixth after a first-lap spin on Saturday saw Gibbs start from down the field in fifteenth. Gibbs and Law passed both the Cortinas of Smith and Thompson on lap seven when Gibbs got up the inside of Thompson at McCleans and Law followed the Anglia past at Coppice before the pair gobbled up Smith by the end of the lap. Gibbs' Anglia was pipped by Law’s Cortina on the last lap at the Roberts Chicane to cross the line in seventh, with Thompson also getting ahead of Smith for eighth and the reigning champion finished right behind the Anglia. Townsend crossed the line in tenth but received a ten-second false start penalty so ended up twelfth as championship sponsor James Everard claimed his place inside the top ten. James Ibbotson was victorious in Class E again in eleventh ahead of Adrian Oliver, whilst Brendan Rooney charged to third in class and was just 0.319 seconds behind Oliver past the flag.
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Super Touring/Pre '83/'93/'03
Qualifying: There was an even split in the entry between 1990s-era Super Touring cars and the early 2000s BTC-Touring machinery among the six-car field and AJ Owen placed his Ford Mondeo on pole position by 0.702 seconds from Roger Stanford’s Vauxhall Astra Sporthatch. Rick Kerry's recently restored Peugeot 406 Coupe secured a spot on the second row ahead of Jim Pocklington's early Cavalier in fourth. Jason Hughes qualified his MG ZS fifth but the car's engine succumbed to a dropped valve and Matty Evans' Vauxhall Cavalier's clutch woes had already ruled that car without even turning a wheel. Pre '83: Twelve-time champion Stephen Primett wasn’t among the 17-car entry so regular sparring partner Jonathan Corker was expected to have a relatively free run to the category pole but it turned out to be a close run thing as his Datsun 510’s time was just 0.094 seconds up on the Opel Kadett of 2024 Mini Challenge Trophy champion Harry Hickton, out in the machine built by his father David. Tom Harvey was third fastest in his Harvspeed Mk1 Escort from Graham Smith's similar car in fourth. Pre '93: Reigning champion Ian Bower topped the Pre ‘93s aboard his Castrol BMW and headed the non-Super Touring grid from William Davison’s similar E36 M3 but an off for the polesitter at the Old Hairpin brought the session to an early conclusion. The first three BMWs went faster than all the headline Super Touring cars in the session, with Jasver Sapra setting the third fastest-time from Michael Cullen's freshly built Group A E30 M3 in fourth. Pre '03: Joe Dorrington sped to a comfortable Pre ‘03 pole in tenth overall on the combined timesheet aboard his Honda Civic after the only other entry in the category, Simon Mann’s E46 BMW, failed to set a time after water got in his electrics but a change of spark plugs and coil packs saw the Cadbury’s 328i fixed for the races.
Race One
Super Touring: A quartet of runners remained for the first race after Jason Hughes’ MG, which he raced himself in the BTCC, non-started with its engine problem and joined Matty Evans' Cavalier on the sidelines. Polesitter AJ Owen held off Roger Stanford and Jim Pocklington into Redgate and got through a Safety Car restart to lead the Super Tourers until the Mondeo's engine lost all power on the climb to McCleans at the eight-and-a-half-minute mark. Owen thought the throttle cable had snapped initially but found that he had no compression when he tried to restart the engine, when they took the cylinder head off back in the pits they discovered a snapped timing chain which unfortunately ended his weekend after a promising start. Stanford led Pocklington initially in second behind Owen but when the Astra was passed by the Pre '93 M3s of William Davison and Michael Cullen with six minutes to go, the oldest car in the Super Touring field pounced to pass the BTC-T machine into Redgate and the pair finished with just 0.217 seconds between them as Pocklington claimed the category win. Rick Kerry struggled throughout with a misfire aboard his Halfords 406 Coupe but reached the flag in third, well adrift of the other two.
Pre '83: Harry Hickton made a great start to lead the Pre '83s from Jonathan Corker and Tom Harvey's smart ShellSport Escort, with Harvey slipping by the Datsun into second at the Old Hairpin. The polesitting Datsun was back in second place before the Safety Car interruption and grabbed the lead from the Kadett on lap three towards the Roberts Chicane. Corker was able to open the narrowest of margins to the Opel but Hickton gamely chased after the Datsun all the way and was almost back within striking distance when a sideways moment for the Kadett at Redgate for the penultimate time sealed the win for Corker by 2.605 seconds. Harvey's Mk1 Escort took the flag in third a few seconds further behind, an arm’s length ahead of Graham Smith’s similar Mk1 Escort. Smith was ultimately penalised five seconds for track limit offences but the punishment did not affect his overall result. The Triumph Dolomite Carl Shreeve spun out of fifth place at Redgate after five minutes had elapsed and fell down to twelfth in the category but fought back to chase Mark Fowler's Escort Mk1 past the flag in sixth, with all the top six Pre '83 cars coming from Class C. Club chairman Stuart Caie won Class B with his Triplex Capri in seventh from Neil Philpotts' Mitsubishi Colt Lancer Turbo that was making its race debut and Jake Margalies' Alfa Romeo GTV6, who had led the class early on. James Dunkley brought his self-built Mk1 Fiesta home at the head of Class D on its maiden outing to defeat Philip Waller's Hillman Avenger.
Pre '93: Poleman Ian Bower headed the non-Super Touring categories into the first corner from William Davison but the E36 M3 of Daniel Gandesha had ground to a halt on the Exhibition Straight during the formation lap to force a single-lap Safety Car period. Bower and Davison both passed the struggling Super Touring category Peugeot of Rick Kerry on the start/finish straight at the restart and continued to pull away from the rest together but became split up when Bower got through the squabbling Super Touring cars of Roger Stanford and Jim Pocklington quicker. It took Davison three further laps to get around the Vauxhalls, by which time Bower had passed AJ Owen's Mondeo for the overall race lead at Coppice and was almost six seconds up the road. Michael Cullen had locked up at Redgate for the first time in his slick-tyred E30 M3 to trail Jasver Sapra until just after the restart, the Irishman soon got into his stride after getting past down the Exhibition Straight and caught Davison as he battled with the Super Touring Vauxhalls. Cullen was just half a second behind Davison when they cleared them and the E30 passed the E36 for second on the following tour with just under five minutes left. Cullen began to chase down Bower and took over two seconds out of the leader last time around but fell 0.677 seconds short over the line, with Davison 4.973 seconds down on the Irishman in third. Sapra led a tough battle for fourth for most of the race but Kevin Willis got ahead going onto the penultimate lap as Sapra held off Shaun Morris for fifth.
Pre '03: Joe Dorrington won as he pleased aboard his Honda Civic, with Simon Mann dragging his BMW's exhaust along to second.
Race Two
Super Touring: Just three of the original six Super Touring entries remained for Race Two. Jim Pocklington's Cavalier started from pole position ahead of Roger Stanford's Astra and Rick Kerry's Peugeot completed the depleted field. Stanford took the lead on lap one as they accelerated out of Redgate but the much newer Astra couldn't escape from the Cavalier. Pocklington passed Stanford for the lead on lap three but they were soon caught by the leading Pre '93 BMWs. The 1990 Cavalier held onto third overall in the race but the BTC-T Astra fell back to seventh overall as a pack of tussling BMWs came through. Kerry's 406 Coupe only completed a couple of laps as its misfire still hadn't cleared.
Pre '83: Leader from the start Jonathan Corker was put under a lot of pressure by Tom Harvey for three-quarters of the race but a massive moment for the Mk1 Escort at the Old Hairpin dropped him to fourth behind Graham Smith's Mk1 and Harry Hickton's Opel Kadett, who had swapped places at Coppice on the opening lap and had kept in touch with the top two. Harvey got back into the top three two laps later at McCleans after Smith’s engine went off song in the late stages, with Hickton having already passed the struggling Escort at Redgate. Hickton suddenly caught the leading Datsun and took away the category win down the pit straight heading onto the penultimate lap for a surprise victory by 1.839 seconds from Corker and Harvey. The flat-sounding Escort of Smith was able to reach the end in fourth ahead of Carl Shreeve's Triumph Dolomite and Jake Margalies' Class B-winning Alfa Romeo in sixth. Neil Philpotts was seventh with the rare Lancer Turbo and James Dunkley's Mk1 Fiesta claimed the Class D spoils for the second time in eighth. Nick Williamson had climbed up to sixth from the back of the grid before the Rover SD1 let him down again, having struggled with engine dramas on Saturday that saw the big Rover miss qualifying and trail round at the back of the field in Race One. CTCRC chairman Stuart Caie also didn't make the end with his Ford Capri after leading Class B for much of the race in fifth place.
Pre '93: Ian Bower and Michael Cullen's M3s of different ages headed the non-Super Touring grid from William Davison and Kevin Willis on row two. Oliver Owen started at the back after qualifying out of session on Sunday morning. Bower headed the field into Redgate on lap one and led the category throughout, catching the leading Super Tourers as early as lap four and sealing the overall win to boot. Bower passed Roger Stanford's 2005 Astra Sporthatch at McCleans on lap four before claiming the overall race lead from Jim Pocklington a lap later. Davison also caught Pocklington’s Cavalier in the closing stages to take second overall at Redgate, finishing some 14.680 seconds behind the dominant Bower. Cullen had a very busy race in his E30 M3 as he fought to hold off Willis' E36 M3 initially but the similar E36s of Davison and Shaun Morris were with them too and they were eventually caught by a marauding Owen from the back of the grid. Willis had got ahead of Cullen with an outside move that took all of McCleans and Coppice to complete before his retirement on the fourth lap when he spun off onto the infield exiting Coppice. Cullen would later fall victim to Davison with eight minutes to go and the yellow E36 pulled clear of the squabble as he went after the pair of Super Touring category Vauxhalls for a place on the overall podium. The rapid Owen had passed the Pre '83 lead battle by the end of lap three and whittled down the near five-second gap to the tussle behind Cullen in two laps. It took until lap ten for Owen to unseat Morris from fourth as the Bastos E36 defended well, with Owen then passing the E30 M3 of Cullen on the penultimate tour to claim a spot on the Pre '93 podium in fourth overall. Morris also usurped Cullen on the final trip through the Roberts Chicane to claim fourth from the Irishman. Novice Daniel Gandesha was the sixth car home in eleventh overall.
Pre '03: Joe Dorrington claimed his second win in the Pre '03s despite a trip across the grass down the Craner Curves on lap two and a fuel leak, the Honda Civic was the sole finisher in the category after the BMW of Simon Mann pulled off into the pit exit.
Qualifying: There was an even split in the entry between 1990s-era Super Touring cars and the early 2000s BTC-Touring machinery among the six-car field and AJ Owen placed his Ford Mondeo on pole position by 0.702 seconds from Roger Stanford’s Vauxhall Astra Sporthatch. Rick Kerry's recently restored Peugeot 406 Coupe secured a spot on the second row ahead of Jim Pocklington's early Cavalier in fourth. Jason Hughes qualified his MG ZS fifth but the car's engine succumbed to a dropped valve and Matty Evans' Vauxhall Cavalier's clutch woes had already ruled that car without even turning a wheel. Pre '83: Twelve-time champion Stephen Primett wasn’t among the 17-car entry so regular sparring partner Jonathan Corker was expected to have a relatively free run to the category pole but it turned out to be a close run thing as his Datsun 510’s time was just 0.094 seconds up on the Opel Kadett of 2024 Mini Challenge Trophy champion Harry Hickton, out in the machine built by his father David. Tom Harvey was third fastest in his Harvspeed Mk1 Escort from Graham Smith's similar car in fourth. Pre '93: Reigning champion Ian Bower topped the Pre ‘93s aboard his Castrol BMW and headed the non-Super Touring grid from William Davison’s similar E36 M3 but an off for the polesitter at the Old Hairpin brought the session to an early conclusion. The first three BMWs went faster than all the headline Super Touring cars in the session, with Jasver Sapra setting the third fastest-time from Michael Cullen's freshly built Group A E30 M3 in fourth. Pre '03: Joe Dorrington sped to a comfortable Pre ‘03 pole in tenth overall on the combined timesheet aboard his Honda Civic after the only other entry in the category, Simon Mann’s E46 BMW, failed to set a time after water got in his electrics but a change of spark plugs and coil packs saw the Cadbury’s 328i fixed for the races.
Race One
Super Touring: A quartet of runners remained for the first race after Jason Hughes’ MG, which he raced himself in the BTCC, non-started with its engine problem and joined Matty Evans' Cavalier on the sidelines. Polesitter AJ Owen held off Roger Stanford and Jim Pocklington into Redgate and got through a Safety Car restart to lead the Super Tourers until the Mondeo's engine lost all power on the climb to McCleans at the eight-and-a-half-minute mark. Owen thought the throttle cable had snapped initially but found that he had no compression when he tried to restart the engine, when they took the cylinder head off back in the pits they discovered a snapped timing chain which unfortunately ended his weekend after a promising start. Stanford led Pocklington initially in second behind Owen but when the Astra was passed by the Pre '93 M3s of William Davison and Michael Cullen with six minutes to go, the oldest car in the Super Touring field pounced to pass the BTC-T machine into Redgate and the pair finished with just 0.217 seconds between them as Pocklington claimed the category win. Rick Kerry struggled throughout with a misfire aboard his Halfords 406 Coupe but reached the flag in third, well adrift of the other two.
Pre '83: Harry Hickton made a great start to lead the Pre '83s from Jonathan Corker and Tom Harvey's smart ShellSport Escort, with Harvey slipping by the Datsun into second at the Old Hairpin. The polesitting Datsun was back in second place before the Safety Car interruption and grabbed the lead from the Kadett on lap three towards the Roberts Chicane. Corker was able to open the narrowest of margins to the Opel but Hickton gamely chased after the Datsun all the way and was almost back within striking distance when a sideways moment for the Kadett at Redgate for the penultimate time sealed the win for Corker by 2.605 seconds. Harvey's Mk1 Escort took the flag in third a few seconds further behind, an arm’s length ahead of Graham Smith’s similar Mk1 Escort. Smith was ultimately penalised five seconds for track limit offences but the punishment did not affect his overall result. The Triumph Dolomite Carl Shreeve spun out of fifth place at Redgate after five minutes had elapsed and fell down to twelfth in the category but fought back to chase Mark Fowler's Escort Mk1 past the flag in sixth, with all the top six Pre '83 cars coming from Class C. Club chairman Stuart Caie won Class B with his Triplex Capri in seventh from Neil Philpotts' Mitsubishi Colt Lancer Turbo that was making its race debut and Jake Margalies' Alfa Romeo GTV6, who had led the class early on. James Dunkley brought his self-built Mk1 Fiesta home at the head of Class D on its maiden outing to defeat Philip Waller's Hillman Avenger.
Pre '93: Poleman Ian Bower headed the non-Super Touring categories into the first corner from William Davison but the E36 M3 of Daniel Gandesha had ground to a halt on the Exhibition Straight during the formation lap to force a single-lap Safety Car period. Bower and Davison both passed the struggling Super Touring category Peugeot of Rick Kerry on the start/finish straight at the restart and continued to pull away from the rest together but became split up when Bower got through the squabbling Super Touring cars of Roger Stanford and Jim Pocklington quicker. It took Davison three further laps to get around the Vauxhalls, by which time Bower had passed AJ Owen's Mondeo for the overall race lead at Coppice and was almost six seconds up the road. Michael Cullen had locked up at Redgate for the first time in his slick-tyred E30 M3 to trail Jasver Sapra until just after the restart, the Irishman soon got into his stride after getting past down the Exhibition Straight and caught Davison as he battled with the Super Touring Vauxhalls. Cullen was just half a second behind Davison when they cleared them and the E30 passed the E36 for second on the following tour with just under five minutes left. Cullen began to chase down Bower and took over two seconds out of the leader last time around but fell 0.677 seconds short over the line, with Davison 4.973 seconds down on the Irishman in third. Sapra led a tough battle for fourth for most of the race but Kevin Willis got ahead going onto the penultimate lap as Sapra held off Shaun Morris for fifth.
Pre '03: Joe Dorrington won as he pleased aboard his Honda Civic, with Simon Mann dragging his BMW's exhaust along to second.
Race Two
Super Touring: Just three of the original six Super Touring entries remained for Race Two. Jim Pocklington's Cavalier started from pole position ahead of Roger Stanford's Astra and Rick Kerry's Peugeot completed the depleted field. Stanford took the lead on lap one as they accelerated out of Redgate but the much newer Astra couldn't escape from the Cavalier. Pocklington passed Stanford for the lead on lap three but they were soon caught by the leading Pre '93 BMWs. The 1990 Cavalier held onto third overall in the race but the BTC-T Astra fell back to seventh overall as a pack of tussling BMWs came through. Kerry's 406 Coupe only completed a couple of laps as its misfire still hadn't cleared.
Pre '83: Leader from the start Jonathan Corker was put under a lot of pressure by Tom Harvey for three-quarters of the race but a massive moment for the Mk1 Escort at the Old Hairpin dropped him to fourth behind Graham Smith's Mk1 and Harry Hickton's Opel Kadett, who had swapped places at Coppice on the opening lap and had kept in touch with the top two. Harvey got back into the top three two laps later at McCleans after Smith’s engine went off song in the late stages, with Hickton having already passed the struggling Escort at Redgate. Hickton suddenly caught the leading Datsun and took away the category win down the pit straight heading onto the penultimate lap for a surprise victory by 1.839 seconds from Corker and Harvey. The flat-sounding Escort of Smith was able to reach the end in fourth ahead of Carl Shreeve's Triumph Dolomite and Jake Margalies' Class B-winning Alfa Romeo in sixth. Neil Philpotts was seventh with the rare Lancer Turbo and James Dunkley's Mk1 Fiesta claimed the Class D spoils for the second time in eighth. Nick Williamson had climbed up to sixth from the back of the grid before the Rover SD1 let him down again, having struggled with engine dramas on Saturday that saw the big Rover miss qualifying and trail round at the back of the field in Race One. CTCRC chairman Stuart Caie also didn't make the end with his Ford Capri after leading Class B for much of the race in fifth place.
Pre '93: Ian Bower and Michael Cullen's M3s of different ages headed the non-Super Touring grid from William Davison and Kevin Willis on row two. Oliver Owen started at the back after qualifying out of session on Sunday morning. Bower headed the field into Redgate on lap one and led the category throughout, catching the leading Super Tourers as early as lap four and sealing the overall win to boot. Bower passed Roger Stanford's 2005 Astra Sporthatch at McCleans on lap four before claiming the overall race lead from Jim Pocklington a lap later. Davison also caught Pocklington’s Cavalier in the closing stages to take second overall at Redgate, finishing some 14.680 seconds behind the dominant Bower. Cullen had a very busy race in his E30 M3 as he fought to hold off Willis' E36 M3 initially but the similar E36s of Davison and Shaun Morris were with them too and they were eventually caught by a marauding Owen from the back of the grid. Willis had got ahead of Cullen with an outside move that took all of McCleans and Coppice to complete before his retirement on the fourth lap when he spun off onto the infield exiting Coppice. Cullen would later fall victim to Davison with eight minutes to go and the yellow E36 pulled clear of the squabble as he went after the pair of Super Touring category Vauxhalls for a place on the overall podium. The rapid Owen had passed the Pre '83 lead battle by the end of lap three and whittled down the near five-second gap to the tussle behind Cullen in two laps. It took until lap ten for Owen to unseat Morris from fourth as the Bastos E36 defended well, with Owen then passing the E30 M3 of Cullen on the penultimate tour to claim a spot on the Pre '93 podium in fourth overall. Morris also usurped Cullen on the final trip through the Roberts Chicane to claim fourth from the Irishman. Novice Daniel Gandesha was the sixth car home in eleventh overall.
Pre '03: Joe Dorrington claimed his second win in the Pre '03s despite a trip across the grass down the Craner Curves on lap two and a fuel leak, the Honda Civic was the sole finisher in the category after the BMW of Simon Mann pulled off into the pit exit.
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Classic & Historic Thunder
Qualifying: With Josh Lawton not returning to defend his crown with the wild supercharged Honda Civic and 2023 title winner Nick Vaughan without an engine, the door was open for someone else to make their mark. A red flag with four-and-a-half minutes left on the clock shook up the starting order, with Andy Robinson and Colin Voyce making good use of the four remaining minutes to leap into the top two spots as they lapped together. The Ford Falcon of Robinson ultimately snared pole position by 1.018 seconds from the leading Historic car of Voyce. Ian Bower’s Pre ‘93 BMW qualified an impressive third fastest and was the quickest of all the Classic Thunder contenders until the top two’s late surge after the stoppage. 2024 Thruxton race winner Mike Manning lined up alongside the E36 M3 with his Texaco-liveried RS500 just 0.213 seconds behind. David Jefferson’s V8 M3 lined up fifth from Ross Craig’s Honda Civic in an eyebrow-raising sixth as 0.225 seconds split them. Craig's father Ian Craig lost out to his son by a slim 0.164 seconds with his E46 BMW to head the fourth row in seventh from Historic Thunder sponsor Rikki Cann, who was the third of the older cars aboard his Aston Martin V8. Shaun Morris would be the second Pre '93 M3 to qualify inside the top ten in ninth, with John Cockerton’s E46 M3 tenth. Martin Reynolds was eighth fastest overall in his BOSS category Mk2 Escort but he had entered a different Mk2 in Historic Thunder so the Norfolk native had to qualify that car out of session and would start from the twelfth row.
Race One: Dark clouds loomed overhead and rain threatened as the field completed its formation lap ahead of the rolling start. The top-qualifying Ford Falcon of Andy Robinson held a tight line into Redgate on lap one and was passed by the Historic cars of Colin Voyce and Mike Manning when the front-row starter drove around the outside of Redgate and the Texaco RS500 followed Voyce past on the inside of Hollywood. Voyce streaked away in his Mk1 Escort Turbo from Manning’s Sierra, with the polesitting Falcon also being passed by the E36 BMW of Pre '93 front runner Ian Bower at the Old Hairpin. The fast-starting Rikki Cann sat in an early fifth place with the bewinged Aston Martin V8 but a failed attempt by Ian Craig to pass the large coupe at the Old Hairpin allowed Mike Cutt to bag them both by McCleans for the first time. Cutt was a man on the move in the early stages as he took fourth from Robinson on lap two and third from Bower on lap three. The promised rain arrived within a few laps and the circuit became ever more slippery but the flying Voyce was still able to extend his lead to almost ten seconds before the balance finally swung in favour of those on treaded rubber, with Bower displacing both Cutt and Manning on lap eight to move into second place. The closely following Cutt passed Manning for third a lap later at Redgate, whilst Bower slashed Voyce's lead from 9.133 seconds to just 2.831 seconds in a single lap and the inevitable happened when the BMW got alongside at McCleans for the penultimate time before making the move stick at Coppice. Bower scampered clear to take the win by 3.863 seconds from the once-dominant Escort but Voyce had the consolation of being the first Historic contender home. Cutt's BMW was a distant third in the end, some 14.556 seconds from the race winner as he completed the top three finishers. Historic runner-up Manning slithered home less than a second behind Cutt in fourth, with Ian Craig's BMW fifth and in an excellent sixth was the third Historic finisher Martin Reynolds in his Mk2 Escort that had started from 24th! Polesitter Robinson had powered past Bower into fourth in the aftermath of Cutt's move on lap three but the Falcon spun exiting the Roberts Chicane on lap six and putting the power down became a real struggle in the tricky conditions, the Australian machine ultimately wouldn't make the finish after suffering a puncture in the later stages. Historic Thunder sponsor Cann had slipped from his early fifth place to seventh and was part of a huge train of cars that formed when the wet weather arrived until the big Aston knocked Tommy Grout's Warsteiner BMW into a spin at the Roberts Chicane for the penultimate time, which allowed Reynolds to gain five places in one go. The BMWs of John Cockerton, Shaun Morris and Anton Martin came home seventh, eighth and ninth, with the rear-wheel-drive Fiesta of Sam Daffin completing the top ten. Cann still took the HT1 class win in fourteenth from Paul Eaton's Holden Commodore, just behind the spaceframe Peugeot 205 of Jonathan Gill.
Race Two: It was still cold and very overcast but the circuit had fully dried for the powerful weaponry in the Classic and Historic Thunder field. An oil slick from the preceding race along the start/finish straight needed to be cleaned up before the cars could be released from the assembly area. Race One victor Ian Bower lined up on pole position and the pre-race question was how long could the treaded-tyred BMW hang on at the front with slick-tyred Colin Voyce, Mike Cutt and Ian Craig surrounding the polesitter. Opening race fourth-placed finisher Mike Manning was missing after losing fourth gear in Saturday’s sodden BOSS voyage. The Mk1 Escort of Voyce scorched clear at the start as he had in Race One, with Cutt's BMW clearing Bower too at Redgate. The turbocharged Escort held its advantage of a little over three seconds through the first third of the fifteen minutes but Cutt’s BMW started to work its way up to the rear of Voyce and was within reach of the lead with four minutes remaining. Headlights blazing, Cutt attempted to get up the inside of the Escort exiting McCleans on lap nine but Voyce held his ground and the BMW tried again out of Coppice to no avail with less than two minutes remaining. A flying Adrian Bradley caught them on the final lap after starting from seventeenth but Voyce held on to claim victory overall and of the Historic Thunder category from Classic Thunder victor Cutt and chaser Bradley. Bradley had passed six cars to be eleventh after lap one, taken another three on lap two for eighth, then moved up to fifth on lap three after passing the Anton Martin, Shaun Morris and Martin Reynolds trio. Two laps later Bradley moved up to fourth at the expense of Ian Craig and Bower relinquished third place down the Exhibition Straight on lap seven. The BMW was 8.399 seconds from Voyce in the lead after taking third place with six minutes left to go and Bradley got his head down to be with the lead pair out of Coppice for the final time but couldn't split them as the top three crossed the line covered by 0.812 seconds. Bower performed admirably against the more modified machinery to run in third until the Bradley BMW Express came through on lap seven but the Pre '93 M3 still claimed fourth. Race One polesitter Andy Robinson started from the eleventh row in 21st and the AU Falcon completed lap one just behind Bradley in twelfth. The V8 Supercar got up to sixth after five laps and took fifth from Ian Craig's BMW on the penultimate tour but the top four were too far up the road to make any further progress. Pre '93 Jaguar XJS pilot Mike Seabourne put in an eye-catching drive aboard Jonathan Gill’s spaceframe Peugeot 205 and took a top-ten finish in seventh ahead of Tommy Grout’s Warsteiner BMW after climbing up from the twelfth row. The Peugeot took a little while to make much real progress up the order early on as Seabourne got used to the very different machine but it began to fly once he'd got some clear air. Seabourne reached the top ten on lap seven after passing both the Morris and Martin BMWs, he then gained another on lap eight when Grout's BMW lost ground, with the 205 finally gaining seventh from John Cockerton's M3 into Redgate on lap ten. Shaun Morris' Pre '93 BMW finished in ninth and second Historic finisher Rikki Cann was tenth in the big Aston Martin V8 after they avoided Alan Breck's spinning BMW exiting the Roberts Chicane. Cockerton's BMW lost a further spot to Grout on the run to the line after taking to the grass to miss Breck so crossed the line ninth before being hit with a ten-second false start penalty earned when the M3 retook its grid spot after falling to the back of the field with a problem on the green flag lap, dropping the car to thirteenth behind David Jefferson's E92 and Anton Martin's E46 M3s.
Qualifying: With Josh Lawton not returning to defend his crown with the wild supercharged Honda Civic and 2023 title winner Nick Vaughan without an engine, the door was open for someone else to make their mark. A red flag with four-and-a-half minutes left on the clock shook up the starting order, with Andy Robinson and Colin Voyce making good use of the four remaining minutes to leap into the top two spots as they lapped together. The Ford Falcon of Robinson ultimately snared pole position by 1.018 seconds from the leading Historic car of Voyce. Ian Bower’s Pre ‘93 BMW qualified an impressive third fastest and was the quickest of all the Classic Thunder contenders until the top two’s late surge after the stoppage. 2024 Thruxton race winner Mike Manning lined up alongside the E36 M3 with his Texaco-liveried RS500 just 0.213 seconds behind. David Jefferson’s V8 M3 lined up fifth from Ross Craig’s Honda Civic in an eyebrow-raising sixth as 0.225 seconds split them. Craig's father Ian Craig lost out to his son by a slim 0.164 seconds with his E46 BMW to head the fourth row in seventh from Historic Thunder sponsor Rikki Cann, who was the third of the older cars aboard his Aston Martin V8. Shaun Morris would be the second Pre '93 M3 to qualify inside the top ten in ninth, with John Cockerton’s E46 M3 tenth. Martin Reynolds was eighth fastest overall in his BOSS category Mk2 Escort but he had entered a different Mk2 in Historic Thunder so the Norfolk native had to qualify that car out of session and would start from the twelfth row.
Race One: Dark clouds loomed overhead and rain threatened as the field completed its formation lap ahead of the rolling start. The top-qualifying Ford Falcon of Andy Robinson held a tight line into Redgate on lap one and was passed by the Historic cars of Colin Voyce and Mike Manning when the front-row starter drove around the outside of Redgate and the Texaco RS500 followed Voyce past on the inside of Hollywood. Voyce streaked away in his Mk1 Escort Turbo from Manning’s Sierra, with the polesitting Falcon also being passed by the E36 BMW of Pre '93 front runner Ian Bower at the Old Hairpin. The fast-starting Rikki Cann sat in an early fifth place with the bewinged Aston Martin V8 but a failed attempt by Ian Craig to pass the large coupe at the Old Hairpin allowed Mike Cutt to bag them both by McCleans for the first time. Cutt was a man on the move in the early stages as he took fourth from Robinson on lap two and third from Bower on lap three. The promised rain arrived within a few laps and the circuit became ever more slippery but the flying Voyce was still able to extend his lead to almost ten seconds before the balance finally swung in favour of those on treaded rubber, with Bower displacing both Cutt and Manning on lap eight to move into second place. The closely following Cutt passed Manning for third a lap later at Redgate, whilst Bower slashed Voyce's lead from 9.133 seconds to just 2.831 seconds in a single lap and the inevitable happened when the BMW got alongside at McCleans for the penultimate time before making the move stick at Coppice. Bower scampered clear to take the win by 3.863 seconds from the once-dominant Escort but Voyce had the consolation of being the first Historic contender home. Cutt's BMW was a distant third in the end, some 14.556 seconds from the race winner as he completed the top three finishers. Historic runner-up Manning slithered home less than a second behind Cutt in fourth, with Ian Craig's BMW fifth and in an excellent sixth was the third Historic finisher Martin Reynolds in his Mk2 Escort that had started from 24th! Polesitter Robinson had powered past Bower into fourth in the aftermath of Cutt's move on lap three but the Falcon spun exiting the Roberts Chicane on lap six and putting the power down became a real struggle in the tricky conditions, the Australian machine ultimately wouldn't make the finish after suffering a puncture in the later stages. Historic Thunder sponsor Cann had slipped from his early fifth place to seventh and was part of a huge train of cars that formed when the wet weather arrived until the big Aston knocked Tommy Grout's Warsteiner BMW into a spin at the Roberts Chicane for the penultimate time, which allowed Reynolds to gain five places in one go. The BMWs of John Cockerton, Shaun Morris and Anton Martin came home seventh, eighth and ninth, with the rear-wheel-drive Fiesta of Sam Daffin completing the top ten. Cann still took the HT1 class win in fourteenth from Paul Eaton's Holden Commodore, just behind the spaceframe Peugeot 205 of Jonathan Gill.
Race Two: It was still cold and very overcast but the circuit had fully dried for the powerful weaponry in the Classic and Historic Thunder field. An oil slick from the preceding race along the start/finish straight needed to be cleaned up before the cars could be released from the assembly area. Race One victor Ian Bower lined up on pole position and the pre-race question was how long could the treaded-tyred BMW hang on at the front with slick-tyred Colin Voyce, Mike Cutt and Ian Craig surrounding the polesitter. Opening race fourth-placed finisher Mike Manning was missing after losing fourth gear in Saturday’s sodden BOSS voyage. The Mk1 Escort of Voyce scorched clear at the start as he had in Race One, with Cutt's BMW clearing Bower too at Redgate. The turbocharged Escort held its advantage of a little over three seconds through the first third of the fifteen minutes but Cutt’s BMW started to work its way up to the rear of Voyce and was within reach of the lead with four minutes remaining. Headlights blazing, Cutt attempted to get up the inside of the Escort exiting McCleans on lap nine but Voyce held his ground and the BMW tried again out of Coppice to no avail with less than two minutes remaining. A flying Adrian Bradley caught them on the final lap after starting from seventeenth but Voyce held on to claim victory overall and of the Historic Thunder category from Classic Thunder victor Cutt and chaser Bradley. Bradley had passed six cars to be eleventh after lap one, taken another three on lap two for eighth, then moved up to fifth on lap three after passing the Anton Martin, Shaun Morris and Martin Reynolds trio. Two laps later Bradley moved up to fourth at the expense of Ian Craig and Bower relinquished third place down the Exhibition Straight on lap seven. The BMW was 8.399 seconds from Voyce in the lead after taking third place with six minutes left to go and Bradley got his head down to be with the lead pair out of Coppice for the final time but couldn't split them as the top three crossed the line covered by 0.812 seconds. Bower performed admirably against the more modified machinery to run in third until the Bradley BMW Express came through on lap seven but the Pre '93 M3 still claimed fourth. Race One polesitter Andy Robinson started from the eleventh row in 21st and the AU Falcon completed lap one just behind Bradley in twelfth. The V8 Supercar got up to sixth after five laps and took fifth from Ian Craig's BMW on the penultimate tour but the top four were too far up the road to make any further progress. Pre '93 Jaguar XJS pilot Mike Seabourne put in an eye-catching drive aboard Jonathan Gill’s spaceframe Peugeot 205 and took a top-ten finish in seventh ahead of Tommy Grout’s Warsteiner BMW after climbing up from the twelfth row. The Peugeot took a little while to make much real progress up the order early on as Seabourne got used to the very different machine but it began to fly once he'd got some clear air. Seabourne reached the top ten on lap seven after passing both the Morris and Martin BMWs, he then gained another on lap eight when Grout's BMW lost ground, with the 205 finally gaining seventh from John Cockerton's M3 into Redgate on lap ten. Shaun Morris' Pre '93 BMW finished in ninth and second Historic finisher Rikki Cann was tenth in the big Aston Martin V8 after they avoided Alan Breck's spinning BMW exiting the Roberts Chicane. Cockerton's BMW lost a further spot to Grout on the run to the line after taking to the grass to miss Breck so crossed the line ninth before being hit with a ten-second false start penalty earned when the M3 retook its grid spot after falling to the back of the field with a problem on the green flag lap, dropping the car to thirteenth behind David Jefferson's E92 and Anton Martin's E46 M3s.
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Blue Oval Saloon Series
Qualifying: The BOSS entries were combined with the Classic and Historic Thunder field for qualifying and Piers Grange led the way overall when the session was red-flagged but Andy Robinson had entered his mighty 7-litre Falcon V8 Supercar for an extra pair of races and claimed pole position from Grange in the four-minute mini-session that followed. The top two were split by 1.593 seconds, with Mike Manning another 0.922 seconds back in third. Martin Reynolds lined up beside the Texaco Sierra on the second row with his X-Pack Mk2 Escort. Olly Allen’s 2.5-litre Fiesta was fifth quickest from Sam Daffin's RWD Fiesta in sixth. Craig Owen's Sierra Cosworth was joined by 2024 champion Tim Mizen's Fiesta on the fourth row, with Tom Smith's Fiesta ST and Cliff Pellin Ecoboost Fiesta completing the top ten.
Race One: The inclement weather that arrived during the Classic Thunder encounter had settled in and the track was now very wet for the final race of Saturday. The powerful Falcon V8 Supercar of poleman Andy Robinson stuck to the inside down to Redgate but Piers Grange skated around the outside to briefly lead. However, the Mk2 Escort got on the slippery exit kerb and the Falcon had powered back past by Hollywood. Grange suffered a lurid spin down the hill and lost a lot of ground, which put Martin Reynolds briefly third but he also had a hairy half-spin at Schwantz Curve just in front of Olly Allen. Luckily the Fiesta missed the Escort as it came to rest in the middle of the circuit before Reynolds returned to the paddock at the end of the lap. Robinson ended lap one with a 1.885-second margin from Mike Manning, who was just over four seconds ahead of the delayed Allen in third. A game of cat-and-mouse followed as Allen’s Fiesta firstly closed on the Texaco Cosworth with a lap some three seconds faster than the lead pair on lap two, then Manning in turn caught Robinson and dropped Allen. The lead trio continuously swapped fastest laps between them into the later stages as all three showed a lot of prowess in the treacherous conditions. However, the big Falcon wasn’t to be denied the victory as Robinson splashed past the line 1.933 seconds clear of Manning, despite almost outbraking himself at Redgate and flirting with the gravel trap on the penultimate lap as he grappled with a misting windscreen. The Texaco Sierra had the small consolation of setting the race's fastest lap on the final tour, whilst Allen’s plucky drive in the Fiesta came to an end when a driveshaft snapped with a couple of minutes remaining. Grange started to climb the order again after his moment on lap one left him in ninth and the Mk2 Escort passed the Fiestas of Rob Taylor and Cliff Pellin on lap two before he reached 2024 champion Tim Mizen and Sam Daffin, taking the pair of them during lap six. Grange then homed in on fourth-place incumbent Craig Owen, grabbing the spot on the eighth lap but the top three were over fifty seconds up the road by now. The Mk2 Escort got on the podium with Allen's exit on lap ten but Owen’s well-driven Sierra remained only a few lengths behind at flagfall. Daffin's self-built Fiesta claimed fifth from Pellin's similarly powered Fiesta in sixth and Alan Breck's V8 Capri in seventh. Michael Rudge's Mk2 Fiesta was victorious in Class D with eighth from Tom Smith's newer Fiesta that completed the nine finishers, Smith had got ahead of Rudge earlier but ran straight on at the Roberts Chicane as leader Robinson came up to put a lap on them.
Race Two: The final race of the weekend took place in fading light and there would be no Race One runner-up Mike Manning again but race one retirements Olly Allen, Martin Reynolds, Tim Mizen and Robert Taylor all started from rows five and six. Poleman Andy Robinson powered into the lead at the rolling start as Sam Daffin moved his 'Superfesta Mk2' into second by Redgate but front-row starter Piers Grange dived back ahead at the Old Hairpin and remarkably Allen went into third up the hill to McCleans. A slightly disjointed start in the pack after Craig Owen's Sierra pulled aside at the Roberts Chicane saw the 2.5-litre Fiesta already up to fourth at Redgate. The fleet Mk2 Escort of Grange was with Robinson on lap two before the Falcon began to pull away when Grange's Smith & Jones motor began to misfire. Allen's Fiesta sped into second place out of McCleans after six minutes and Daffin soon took third as the misfire worsened, with Cliff Pellin and Tim Mizen's Fiestas also passing the struggling Mk2. Alan Breck's V8 Capri and the two Fiesta STs of Rob Tylor and Tom Smith were closing in too before Grange called it quits with five minutes to go. The top three became spread out once Grange's issues struck, with the flame-spitting Falcon of Robinson claiming victory in the gathering gloom by 31.026 seconds from Allen, with Daffin completing the podium another 33 seconds back. Reigning champion Mizen made some moves as he climbed from tenth on the grid to be the last car not lapped in fourth, passing Breck’s Jäegermeister Capri on lap four before chasing down Pellin's newer Fiesta and grabbing the spot at the Roberts Chicane with four minutes remaining on his way to the Class D victory.
Qualifying: The BOSS entries were combined with the Classic and Historic Thunder field for qualifying and Piers Grange led the way overall when the session was red-flagged but Andy Robinson had entered his mighty 7-litre Falcon V8 Supercar for an extra pair of races and claimed pole position from Grange in the four-minute mini-session that followed. The top two were split by 1.593 seconds, with Mike Manning another 0.922 seconds back in third. Martin Reynolds lined up beside the Texaco Sierra on the second row with his X-Pack Mk2 Escort. Olly Allen’s 2.5-litre Fiesta was fifth quickest from Sam Daffin's RWD Fiesta in sixth. Craig Owen's Sierra Cosworth was joined by 2024 champion Tim Mizen's Fiesta on the fourth row, with Tom Smith's Fiesta ST and Cliff Pellin Ecoboost Fiesta completing the top ten.
Race One: The inclement weather that arrived during the Classic Thunder encounter had settled in and the track was now very wet for the final race of Saturday. The powerful Falcon V8 Supercar of poleman Andy Robinson stuck to the inside down to Redgate but Piers Grange skated around the outside to briefly lead. However, the Mk2 Escort got on the slippery exit kerb and the Falcon had powered back past by Hollywood. Grange suffered a lurid spin down the hill and lost a lot of ground, which put Martin Reynolds briefly third but he also had a hairy half-spin at Schwantz Curve just in front of Olly Allen. Luckily the Fiesta missed the Escort as it came to rest in the middle of the circuit before Reynolds returned to the paddock at the end of the lap. Robinson ended lap one with a 1.885-second margin from Mike Manning, who was just over four seconds ahead of the delayed Allen in third. A game of cat-and-mouse followed as Allen’s Fiesta firstly closed on the Texaco Cosworth with a lap some three seconds faster than the lead pair on lap two, then Manning in turn caught Robinson and dropped Allen. The lead trio continuously swapped fastest laps between them into the later stages as all three showed a lot of prowess in the treacherous conditions. However, the big Falcon wasn’t to be denied the victory as Robinson splashed past the line 1.933 seconds clear of Manning, despite almost outbraking himself at Redgate and flirting with the gravel trap on the penultimate lap as he grappled with a misting windscreen. The Texaco Sierra had the small consolation of setting the race's fastest lap on the final tour, whilst Allen’s plucky drive in the Fiesta came to an end when a driveshaft snapped with a couple of minutes remaining. Grange started to climb the order again after his moment on lap one left him in ninth and the Mk2 Escort passed the Fiestas of Rob Taylor and Cliff Pellin on lap two before he reached 2024 champion Tim Mizen and Sam Daffin, taking the pair of them during lap six. Grange then homed in on fourth-place incumbent Craig Owen, grabbing the spot on the eighth lap but the top three were over fifty seconds up the road by now. The Mk2 Escort got on the podium with Allen's exit on lap ten but Owen’s well-driven Sierra remained only a few lengths behind at flagfall. Daffin's self-built Fiesta claimed fifth from Pellin's similarly powered Fiesta in sixth and Alan Breck's V8 Capri in seventh. Michael Rudge's Mk2 Fiesta was victorious in Class D with eighth from Tom Smith's newer Fiesta that completed the nine finishers, Smith had got ahead of Rudge earlier but ran straight on at the Roberts Chicane as leader Robinson came up to put a lap on them.
Race Two: The final race of the weekend took place in fading light and there would be no Race One runner-up Mike Manning again but race one retirements Olly Allen, Martin Reynolds, Tim Mizen and Robert Taylor all started from rows five and six. Poleman Andy Robinson powered into the lead at the rolling start as Sam Daffin moved his 'Superfesta Mk2' into second by Redgate but front-row starter Piers Grange dived back ahead at the Old Hairpin and remarkably Allen went into third up the hill to McCleans. A slightly disjointed start in the pack after Craig Owen's Sierra pulled aside at the Roberts Chicane saw the 2.5-litre Fiesta already up to fourth at Redgate. The fleet Mk2 Escort of Grange was with Robinson on lap two before the Falcon began to pull away when Grange's Smith & Jones motor began to misfire. Allen's Fiesta sped into second place out of McCleans after six minutes and Daffin soon took third as the misfire worsened, with Cliff Pellin and Tim Mizen's Fiestas also passing the struggling Mk2. Alan Breck's V8 Capri and the two Fiesta STs of Rob Tylor and Tom Smith were closing in too before Grange called it quits with five minutes to go. The top three became spread out once Grange's issues struck, with the flame-spitting Falcon of Robinson claiming victory in the gathering gloom by 31.026 seconds from Allen, with Daffin completing the podium another 33 seconds back. Reigning champion Mizen made some moves as he climbed from tenth on the grid to be the last car not lapped in fourth, passing Breck’s Jäegermeister Capri on lap four before chasing down Pellin's newer Fiesta and grabbing the spot at the Roberts Chicane with four minutes remaining on his way to the Class D victory.
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The second meeting on the CTCRC’s schedule takes them to Brands Hatch over Easter on the 19th and 20th of April, competing alongside the big rigs from the British Truck Championship.
TCR UK
TCR UK
The first races for the TCR UK championship under the umbrella of the BARC saw sixteen cars attracted to Donington Park.
Qualifying: Adam Shepherd set the pace in qualifying to grab pole position by 0.166 seconds from title rival Callum Newsham, who'd run wide at Coppice on his final effort. Former Civic Cup champion Alistair Camp has signed up for a full season in his Hyundai i30 and lined up in a promising third place ahead of Sam Laidlaw's Cupra VZ that was just 0.060 seconds slower. Another of the championship hopefuls Brad Hutchison put his Cupra fifth on the grid, 0.354 seconds ahead of Steve Laidlaw's sister Cupra VZ to his son's on the second row and he rued having two laps disallowed for track limit offences that cost him a place to Hutchison. Youngster Finn Leslie marked his TCR UK debut with seventh, whilst his less experienced Power Maxed Racing teammate Harry Bloor was 0.923 seconds slower in eighth. Experienced Irishman Rod McGovern qualified his Hyundai ninth from Mark Smith, who had moved up from a Gen I to a Gen II Cupra and scored a top-ten start. Series boss Stuart Lines had removed the sump of his Lynk & Co at the Old Hairpin during Friday testing and the Chinese machine's motor let go on the first lap of the session to bring out an early red flag.
Race One: Some dark clouds loomed overhead as the start time of the 2025 season opener neared but no rain fell. Adam Shepherd converted his pole position when the lights went out and Callum Newsham followed the polesitting Cupra into Redgate for the first time. Alistair Camp was slow away from gridding third and and slipped to sixth as Sam Laidlaw jumped into the top three. Sam's father Steve Laidlaw was spat into the gravel at Redgate after contact with Brad Hutchison contesting fourth when the latter attempted to go down the inside, the Bond-It Cupra was quickly up to third after navigating around the younger Laidlaw down the Craner Curves for the first time. The Safety Car soon followed for Laidlaw Senior's beached machine at Redgate but the VZ Cupra dug itself out of the gravel so just a single lap behind the BARC Ford Focus was required. Shepherd skipped away early on the Exhibition Straight but Newsham gave chase and was back with Shepherd by the end of the restart lap. However, the Hyundai had begun to smoke increasingly and the Scot pulled off during the second lap after the resumption with a power steering fluid leak. Shepherd pulled further away as the newly-promoted Hutchison had to deal with a closing Sam Laidlaw to keep hold of second place. Laidlaw Junior got a great run out of the Roberts Chicane at half-distance and dived inside at Redgate but the pair made contact at the exit. Laidlaw went through into second while Hutchison bounced down the grass through Hollywood and rejoined between Alistair Camp and Finn Leslie's Hyundais in fifth, being forced to fend off the youngster into the Old Hairpin. All wasn't well with the newly fourth-placed Camp as he soon pitted and Hutchison also went out on the following lap, Camp's i30 exited with a misfire and Hutchison's Cupra overheated after its trip down the grass. The recovering Steve Laidlaw got through the four-car dice between Rod McGovern, Mark Smith, Harry Bloor and Gregory Saunders to reach the top seven after nine minutes and was inside the top six within one further lap, having grabbed sixth from Will Beech at Redgate. The departures of Camp and Hutchison had put the VZ Cupra fourth and Laidlaw soon started to catch Leslie for third at a rate of knots. The pair were joined together with just under five minutes to go and teenager Leslie used all his tricks learned in Fiesta Juniors to hold Laidlaw off, the Cupra got inside Leslie at Coppice on one occasion but the Hyundai reclaimed the place cutting back at the exit. The pair eventually swapped places with two minutes left at Coppice once more to complete a Laidlaw family 2-3 on the podium behind victor Shepherd, who prevailed by 6.504 seconds from the younger Laidlaw. Jeff Alden slid sideways into the gravel at Redgate on lap one but was still able to take the Gen I Cup win from the similar car of Cedric Bloch, who set the fastest lap of the older cars. Series MD Stuart Lines missed the race whilst his Lynk & Co's engine was being changed after its qualifying damage.
Race Two: No further rain had fallen since Sunday's track action commenced but it remained cold with several damp patches remaining off the drying racing line. The uncertainty created a mix of wet and slick-shod machinery as those who played safe on wets hoped to build a big enough lead in the early stages to fend off the slick-tyred runners once they got some heat into the rubber and their pace picked up. The grid was the reverse of the top ten finishers in Race One. Will Beech sat on pole position in his Capture Motorsport Cupra on used wet tyres and the front row was completed by Cedric Bloch's hand-controlled Gen I Cup Audi, which had opted for slicks. Opening Gen I Cup winner Jeff Alden chose to go with treaded rubber in third and Gregory Saunders' Cupra went the same way on the second row. Mark Smith and Rod McGovern went in opposing directions on row three, with the Gen I Cup graduate taking slicks and the Irishman wets. Youngster Finn Leslie took his chances on the circuit drying out with slicks and fourth row mate Steve Laidlaw's state-of-the-art Cupra thought otherwise and fitted the grooved wet tyres. The second VZ Cupra of Sam Laidlaw went the opposite way to his father Steve by choosing slicks and race winner Adam Shepherd also chose slicks as they formed the fifth row. After his first race retirement, championship hopeful Callum Newsham started his Hyundai on slicks from fifteenth behind fellow retirees Brad Hutchison and Alistair Camp. Bloch struggled for traction off the line and fell to sixth by Redgate as Steve Laidlaw flew off the grid to sit fourth behind Beech, Alden and Saunders. Beech led the opening lap but Steve Laidlaw had breezed by Saunders through Hollywood and carved past the leading Gen I Cup car of Alden at the Old Hairpin for the first time. The VZ Cupra was soon on the tail of Beech and took up the running as they climbed towards McCleans for the second time. Saunders also passed Alden for third during lap two as the wet-shod Alistair Camp tore through the order from gridding fourteenth to further demote the Audi and ended the second lap in fourth in what was now an all-treaded-tyre top six. Fourth became third for Camp on lap four when he got down the inside of Saunders at Redgate but the pair would swap round again on lap five. The Hyundai of Newsham passed title rival Shepherd on lap three when the Cupra was forced wide by McGovern's wet-tyred Hyundai at Redgate as the pair began to climb the order. Newsham then got ahead of Alden's Audi on the fifth lap at the Roberts Chicane, with Shepherd doing likewise at the Old Hairpin on the following tour but the fifth-placed car had slipped to almost twenty seconds adrift of the race-leading Cupra. The crossover in performance to slicks came around halfway through the twenty minutes, with Newsham and Shepherd setting new fastest laps on lap seven to reduce the deficit from first place to 13.430 and 14.849 seconds respectively. With the slick-tyred cars starting to come on strong, Shepherd passed Newsham on lap eight when the Hyundai attacked the wet-shod similar car of Camp, who retired to the pits at the end of the lap, to give the Cupra a run on the pair of them down the Exhibition Straight. The slick runners now had a clear advantage, with Shepherd passing Saunders down the Craner Curves and Beech at the Roberts Chicane to go second a lap later but still had 12.262 seconds to make up on leader Laidlaw. Newsham took slightly longer to navigate around the Cupra and Audi than Shepherd but would be up to third by the end of lap ten. The second-placed Cupra started to take chunks out of Laidlaw's lead by upwards of two seconds per lap and a better run out of Coppice saw the Cupra into the lead with two minutes left. Newsham was also reeling in the VZ Cupra and claimed second place at Redgate for the final time after the Hyundai lost further time to Shepherd when it suffered a big slide at Coppice with seven minutes left, coming home 5.877 seconds behind the victorious Cupra. Long-time leader Laidlaw completed the podium after losing 2.958 seconds to the runner-up Hyundai inside a single lap as his wet tyres wilted. Young gun Finn Leslie took fourth with his slick-tyred Hyundai, whilst Sam Laidlaw's gamble on slicks was rewarded with fifth and the pair both got ahead of Saunders' sixth-placed Cupra on wets in the last couple of laps. Early top six runners Beech and McGovern took the flag in seventh and eighth, whilst Stuart Lines' Lynk & Co was back in action after an overnight engine swap and was rewarded with a finish inside the top ten in ninth. The Chinese machine finished one spot ahead of Gen I Cup winner Jeff Alden in tenth. Brad Hutchison recorded his second non-finish after a bolt broke in the left rear corner of his Cupra on lap four when running third of the slick-tyred runners.
Race Three: The second-fastest qualifying times formed the grid for the third race of the weekend. Double race winner Adam Shepherd started from pole position as he sought to claim a victory treble, with Sam Laidlaw's current-spec Cupra 0.372 seconds slower in second. Callum Newsham was only 0.024 seconds slower than Laidlaw as he headed the second row from the similar Alistair Camp Hyundai, with Steve Laidlaw and teenager Finn Leslie making up the top six on the grid. Brad Hutchison lined up seventh as he aimed to finally get some points on the board after starting the race with a negative score, having accrued a penalty point for the Race One first-corner incident and the Cupra was yet to see the chequered flag. The polesitting Cupra held the lead into Redgate as the 20-minute race got underway, with Newsham outdragging Sam Laidlaw away from the line to be second. Camp made a tardy start from the second row and fell behind the elder Laidlaw Steve through the first corner. Early leader Shepherd ran a little wide out of Redgate for the first time which cost him speed down the Craner Curves and Newsham capitalised to pull off a great pass for the lead into the Old Hairpin. Shepherd didn't give up easily and was alongside the Hyundai up the hill when he speared off into the gravel at McCleans after losing the rear. The Cupra rejoined at the back of the field but pitted at the end of the lap. The Laidlaw pair were elevated to second and third after the incident but Laidlaw Jnr lost control at the Roberts Chicane for the first time and speared into the inside tyre wall. Steve Laidlaw took up second place from the Hyundais of Camp and Leslie in third and fourth but Camp clobbered a tyre stack at the Roberts Chicane just as the Safety Car was deployed at the end of lap two and forced a red flag with the dislodged tyres in the middle of the circuit. Laidlaw Snr had also damaged the front right of his Cupra after clipping the right-hand Roberts Chicane tyre stack ahead of Camp and he pitted to have repairs effected to the battered corner. The restarted race would be held over 15 minutes from a new-look grid. Callum Newsham now started from pole position ahead of Leslie's similar car, with Hutchison third and Mark Smith fourth. The new race meant Shepherd could restart from the pitlane but only once the race had started, with both Laidlaws joining him. Luckily for the trio, the restart was delayed after Cedric Bloch spun into the wall at Schwantz Curve on the warm-up lap which meant that the three Cupras were allowed to join the back of the train on the formation lap after the Audi had been recovered but they would still start from pit road. Newsham retained the lead off the line as his front-row co-starter Leslie was slow away and Hutchison leapt up to second. Smith had a look at Leslie's third place into Redgate before a keenly away Stuart Lines drove around the Cupra's outside but the Lynk & Co had fallen back into line in fifth by Hollywood. Newsham rapidly built up a lead from Hutchison and was over nine seconds up the road when the Bond-It Cupra's woeful weekend ended after picking a left rear puncture just after two-thirds distance, promoting the Hyundai of Leslie into second place. Newsham was unflustered out front and comfortably won by 14.048 seconds from Junior driver Leslie, who scored a maiden podium finish on his debut weekend. Shepherd led the charge of the pitlane starters and reached the top six on lap five after passing Harry Bloor down the Craner Curves. Rod McGovern and Mark Smith both lost out to the determined Cupra driver on lap six and Shepherd got into the podium placings with Hutchison's demise. The two Laidlaws came fourth and fifth after driving through the field in tandem as dad Steve led home son Sam, with the other Junior Touring Car Programme member Bloor taking sixth with his Hyundai after making a couple of passes at the Old Hairpin and McGovern was penalised five seconds for abusing track limits. McGovern had dived ahead of Smith at McCleans for fifth place on lap seven and Bloor followed the Hyundai through into sixth at Coppice before the Cupra reclaimed the place at the Roberts Chicane. The Laidlaws were soon on their case and they demoted the first two on lap eight and McGovern followed on lap ten at McCleans to complete their charge into the top five. The fast-starting Lines was adjudged to have jumped the start and was hit with a ten-second penalty that saw the Lynk & Co classified twelfth, as was Smith who crossed the line in eighth but ended up tenth as a result of his punishment. Jeff Alden fended off George Jaxon's Golf for his third Gen I Cup win of the weekend in eleventh.
Qualifying: Adam Shepherd set the pace in qualifying to grab pole position by 0.166 seconds from title rival Callum Newsham, who'd run wide at Coppice on his final effort. Former Civic Cup champion Alistair Camp has signed up for a full season in his Hyundai i30 and lined up in a promising third place ahead of Sam Laidlaw's Cupra VZ that was just 0.060 seconds slower. Another of the championship hopefuls Brad Hutchison put his Cupra fifth on the grid, 0.354 seconds ahead of Steve Laidlaw's sister Cupra VZ to his son's on the second row and he rued having two laps disallowed for track limit offences that cost him a place to Hutchison. Youngster Finn Leslie marked his TCR UK debut with seventh, whilst his less experienced Power Maxed Racing teammate Harry Bloor was 0.923 seconds slower in eighth. Experienced Irishman Rod McGovern qualified his Hyundai ninth from Mark Smith, who had moved up from a Gen I to a Gen II Cupra and scored a top-ten start. Series boss Stuart Lines had removed the sump of his Lynk & Co at the Old Hairpin during Friday testing and the Chinese machine's motor let go on the first lap of the session to bring out an early red flag.
Race One: Some dark clouds loomed overhead as the start time of the 2025 season opener neared but no rain fell. Adam Shepherd converted his pole position when the lights went out and Callum Newsham followed the polesitting Cupra into Redgate for the first time. Alistair Camp was slow away from gridding third and and slipped to sixth as Sam Laidlaw jumped into the top three. Sam's father Steve Laidlaw was spat into the gravel at Redgate after contact with Brad Hutchison contesting fourth when the latter attempted to go down the inside, the Bond-It Cupra was quickly up to third after navigating around the younger Laidlaw down the Craner Curves for the first time. The Safety Car soon followed for Laidlaw Senior's beached machine at Redgate but the VZ Cupra dug itself out of the gravel so just a single lap behind the BARC Ford Focus was required. Shepherd skipped away early on the Exhibition Straight but Newsham gave chase and was back with Shepherd by the end of the restart lap. However, the Hyundai had begun to smoke increasingly and the Scot pulled off during the second lap after the resumption with a power steering fluid leak. Shepherd pulled further away as the newly-promoted Hutchison had to deal with a closing Sam Laidlaw to keep hold of second place. Laidlaw Junior got a great run out of the Roberts Chicane at half-distance and dived inside at Redgate but the pair made contact at the exit. Laidlaw went through into second while Hutchison bounced down the grass through Hollywood and rejoined between Alistair Camp and Finn Leslie's Hyundais in fifth, being forced to fend off the youngster into the Old Hairpin. All wasn't well with the newly fourth-placed Camp as he soon pitted and Hutchison also went out on the following lap, Camp's i30 exited with a misfire and Hutchison's Cupra overheated after its trip down the grass. The recovering Steve Laidlaw got through the four-car dice between Rod McGovern, Mark Smith, Harry Bloor and Gregory Saunders to reach the top seven after nine minutes and was inside the top six within one further lap, having grabbed sixth from Will Beech at Redgate. The departures of Camp and Hutchison had put the VZ Cupra fourth and Laidlaw soon started to catch Leslie for third at a rate of knots. The pair were joined together with just under five minutes to go and teenager Leslie used all his tricks learned in Fiesta Juniors to hold Laidlaw off, the Cupra got inside Leslie at Coppice on one occasion but the Hyundai reclaimed the place cutting back at the exit. The pair eventually swapped places with two minutes left at Coppice once more to complete a Laidlaw family 2-3 on the podium behind victor Shepherd, who prevailed by 6.504 seconds from the younger Laidlaw. Jeff Alden slid sideways into the gravel at Redgate on lap one but was still able to take the Gen I Cup win from the similar car of Cedric Bloch, who set the fastest lap of the older cars. Series MD Stuart Lines missed the race whilst his Lynk & Co's engine was being changed after its qualifying damage.
Race Two: No further rain had fallen since Sunday's track action commenced but it remained cold with several damp patches remaining off the drying racing line. The uncertainty created a mix of wet and slick-shod machinery as those who played safe on wets hoped to build a big enough lead in the early stages to fend off the slick-tyred runners once they got some heat into the rubber and their pace picked up. The grid was the reverse of the top ten finishers in Race One. Will Beech sat on pole position in his Capture Motorsport Cupra on used wet tyres and the front row was completed by Cedric Bloch's hand-controlled Gen I Cup Audi, which had opted for slicks. Opening Gen I Cup winner Jeff Alden chose to go with treaded rubber in third and Gregory Saunders' Cupra went the same way on the second row. Mark Smith and Rod McGovern went in opposing directions on row three, with the Gen I Cup graduate taking slicks and the Irishman wets. Youngster Finn Leslie took his chances on the circuit drying out with slicks and fourth row mate Steve Laidlaw's state-of-the-art Cupra thought otherwise and fitted the grooved wet tyres. The second VZ Cupra of Sam Laidlaw went the opposite way to his father Steve by choosing slicks and race winner Adam Shepherd also chose slicks as they formed the fifth row. After his first race retirement, championship hopeful Callum Newsham started his Hyundai on slicks from fifteenth behind fellow retirees Brad Hutchison and Alistair Camp. Bloch struggled for traction off the line and fell to sixth by Redgate as Steve Laidlaw flew off the grid to sit fourth behind Beech, Alden and Saunders. Beech led the opening lap but Steve Laidlaw had breezed by Saunders through Hollywood and carved past the leading Gen I Cup car of Alden at the Old Hairpin for the first time. The VZ Cupra was soon on the tail of Beech and took up the running as they climbed towards McCleans for the second time. Saunders also passed Alden for third during lap two as the wet-shod Alistair Camp tore through the order from gridding fourteenth to further demote the Audi and ended the second lap in fourth in what was now an all-treaded-tyre top six. Fourth became third for Camp on lap four when he got down the inside of Saunders at Redgate but the pair would swap round again on lap five. The Hyundai of Newsham passed title rival Shepherd on lap three when the Cupra was forced wide by McGovern's wet-tyred Hyundai at Redgate as the pair began to climb the order. Newsham then got ahead of Alden's Audi on the fifth lap at the Roberts Chicane, with Shepherd doing likewise at the Old Hairpin on the following tour but the fifth-placed car had slipped to almost twenty seconds adrift of the race-leading Cupra. The crossover in performance to slicks came around halfway through the twenty minutes, with Newsham and Shepherd setting new fastest laps on lap seven to reduce the deficit from first place to 13.430 and 14.849 seconds respectively. With the slick-tyred cars starting to come on strong, Shepherd passed Newsham on lap eight when the Hyundai attacked the wet-shod similar car of Camp, who retired to the pits at the end of the lap, to give the Cupra a run on the pair of them down the Exhibition Straight. The slick runners now had a clear advantage, with Shepherd passing Saunders down the Craner Curves and Beech at the Roberts Chicane to go second a lap later but still had 12.262 seconds to make up on leader Laidlaw. Newsham took slightly longer to navigate around the Cupra and Audi than Shepherd but would be up to third by the end of lap ten. The second-placed Cupra started to take chunks out of Laidlaw's lead by upwards of two seconds per lap and a better run out of Coppice saw the Cupra into the lead with two minutes left. Newsham was also reeling in the VZ Cupra and claimed second place at Redgate for the final time after the Hyundai lost further time to Shepherd when it suffered a big slide at Coppice with seven minutes left, coming home 5.877 seconds behind the victorious Cupra. Long-time leader Laidlaw completed the podium after losing 2.958 seconds to the runner-up Hyundai inside a single lap as his wet tyres wilted. Young gun Finn Leslie took fourth with his slick-tyred Hyundai, whilst Sam Laidlaw's gamble on slicks was rewarded with fifth and the pair both got ahead of Saunders' sixth-placed Cupra on wets in the last couple of laps. Early top six runners Beech and McGovern took the flag in seventh and eighth, whilst Stuart Lines' Lynk & Co was back in action after an overnight engine swap and was rewarded with a finish inside the top ten in ninth. The Chinese machine finished one spot ahead of Gen I Cup winner Jeff Alden in tenth. Brad Hutchison recorded his second non-finish after a bolt broke in the left rear corner of his Cupra on lap four when running third of the slick-tyred runners.
Race Three: The second-fastest qualifying times formed the grid for the third race of the weekend. Double race winner Adam Shepherd started from pole position as he sought to claim a victory treble, with Sam Laidlaw's current-spec Cupra 0.372 seconds slower in second. Callum Newsham was only 0.024 seconds slower than Laidlaw as he headed the second row from the similar Alistair Camp Hyundai, with Steve Laidlaw and teenager Finn Leslie making up the top six on the grid. Brad Hutchison lined up seventh as he aimed to finally get some points on the board after starting the race with a negative score, having accrued a penalty point for the Race One first-corner incident and the Cupra was yet to see the chequered flag. The polesitting Cupra held the lead into Redgate as the 20-minute race got underway, with Newsham outdragging Sam Laidlaw away from the line to be second. Camp made a tardy start from the second row and fell behind the elder Laidlaw Steve through the first corner. Early leader Shepherd ran a little wide out of Redgate for the first time which cost him speed down the Craner Curves and Newsham capitalised to pull off a great pass for the lead into the Old Hairpin. Shepherd didn't give up easily and was alongside the Hyundai up the hill when he speared off into the gravel at McCleans after losing the rear. The Cupra rejoined at the back of the field but pitted at the end of the lap. The Laidlaw pair were elevated to second and third after the incident but Laidlaw Jnr lost control at the Roberts Chicane for the first time and speared into the inside tyre wall. Steve Laidlaw took up second place from the Hyundais of Camp and Leslie in third and fourth but Camp clobbered a tyre stack at the Roberts Chicane just as the Safety Car was deployed at the end of lap two and forced a red flag with the dislodged tyres in the middle of the circuit. Laidlaw Snr had also damaged the front right of his Cupra after clipping the right-hand Roberts Chicane tyre stack ahead of Camp and he pitted to have repairs effected to the battered corner. The restarted race would be held over 15 minutes from a new-look grid. Callum Newsham now started from pole position ahead of Leslie's similar car, with Hutchison third and Mark Smith fourth. The new race meant Shepherd could restart from the pitlane but only once the race had started, with both Laidlaws joining him. Luckily for the trio, the restart was delayed after Cedric Bloch spun into the wall at Schwantz Curve on the warm-up lap which meant that the three Cupras were allowed to join the back of the train on the formation lap after the Audi had been recovered but they would still start from pit road. Newsham retained the lead off the line as his front-row co-starter Leslie was slow away and Hutchison leapt up to second. Smith had a look at Leslie's third place into Redgate before a keenly away Stuart Lines drove around the Cupra's outside but the Lynk & Co had fallen back into line in fifth by Hollywood. Newsham rapidly built up a lead from Hutchison and was over nine seconds up the road when the Bond-It Cupra's woeful weekend ended after picking a left rear puncture just after two-thirds distance, promoting the Hyundai of Leslie into second place. Newsham was unflustered out front and comfortably won by 14.048 seconds from Junior driver Leslie, who scored a maiden podium finish on his debut weekend. Shepherd led the charge of the pitlane starters and reached the top six on lap five after passing Harry Bloor down the Craner Curves. Rod McGovern and Mark Smith both lost out to the determined Cupra driver on lap six and Shepherd got into the podium placings with Hutchison's demise. The two Laidlaws came fourth and fifth after driving through the field in tandem as dad Steve led home son Sam, with the other Junior Touring Car Programme member Bloor taking sixth with his Hyundai after making a couple of passes at the Old Hairpin and McGovern was penalised five seconds for abusing track limits. McGovern had dived ahead of Smith at McCleans for fifth place on lap seven and Bloor followed the Hyundai through into sixth at Coppice before the Cupra reclaimed the place at the Roberts Chicane. The Laidlaws were soon on their case and they demoted the first two on lap eight and McGovern followed on lap ten at McCleans to complete their charge into the top five. The fast-starting Lines was adjudged to have jumped the start and was hit with a ten-second penalty that saw the Lynk & Co classified twelfth, as was Smith who crossed the line in eighth but ended up tenth as a result of his punishment. Jeff Alden fended off George Jaxon's Golf for his third Gen I Cup win of the weekend in eleventh.
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The TCR UK field returns to Donington Park when they join the British GT Championship for their first round on the 5th and 6th of April but using the Grand Prix circuit this time, with the entry set to grow as the Motion Motorsport Lynk & Co of Ryan Bensley joins in after missing the opening races.