Donington Race Report: Radical Hagerty Cup Round 1

Testing

Ben was finding great pace through testing. He quickly attuned himself to the new SR3 despite the horribly wet and cold conditions.

Qualifying

The 20 minutes of qualifying saw Ben ascend the grid where he remained within the top spots for the majority. Despite holding the P1 position as he entered the final minutes, Ben unfortunately lost out on the top spot and qualified in P4 leaving him in prime position for a podium battle.

He was only 0.743 secs off pole position, but it placed him on the second row of the grid for the opening race of the weekend.

Not so much happy but content, as I made a mistake on my fastest lap, so know I could have gone faster

Race 1

30 minutes of racing and Ben was straight into the fight, finding a place before Redgate and soon challenging Jason Rishover for third. Oil was dropped onto the track around turn one, and a few cars span as a result. After a few laps behind the safety car, the red flag was waved and the race was eventually restarted with 15 minutes on the clock.

Upon the restart, Ben was challenging for 3rd whilst the lead duo had started to get away. Ben made his move into P3 and a podium spot despite some small damage

I had got a knock on my rear corner at the start and lost a bit of straight-line speed, but I managed to get Jason at Redgate just before the safety car came out again

The safety car lights were out again for 3 laps and upon the restart he found himself under immense pressure. He defended this position well but a very determined move from the following driver left him compromised through the craner curbs. and this helped the driver in 5th find his way through.

I over defended and he got me back as we went side by side down the Craner Curves

With little time remaining, Ben had to settle for a disappointing P5.

Race 2

The grid for race 2 is determined by the fastest lap of race 1 and Ben was able to secure a starting position of P4

At the start he made an early break with James Lay and Daryl De Leon. After briefly losing ground, he was coming back strongly when De Leon spun and third became second.

Although Lay was a comfortable winner, Caisley was able to celebrate his first SR3 podium with a solid second place.

Race 3

A red flag and the safety car on the opening lap of the restart made it an interesting start to the final race of the weekend, but Caisley managed to retain his third on the grid into the opening laps.

When De Leon opted to take his mandatory stop early, he was into second, but when all the stops had been completed he was back in a clear third, which he retained to the flag.

Testing

Oscar’s first race weekend in the Radical SR1 started on a damp note, with heavy rain throughout the Thursday, and a light drizzle on the Friday.

Working with driver coach Jack Mitchell, Oscar used his karting know how to make the conditions work for him. Oscar also enjoys the wet and so his confidence driving was not dampened.

Being the 4th day of testing ever, Oscar put in some good laps and shows good promise for the year to come.

Qualifying

Oscar had a tremendous qualifying session. He was putting in consistently quick laps in comparison to his rivals and traded the top few positions until settling into the P3 spot.

Race 1

Oscars first race within car racing was immense. He kept it clean throughout and had some great battles with George Knutton. Despite pressing Knutton for most of the race, Oscar couldnt breach his defence.

He finished just 0.185 seconds behind to accept P3 and the bronze trophy. This was a stellar result for his first race.

Race 2

Having hunted down James Ockenden in the second race, he was third again after 12 laps, but couldn’t close the gap on race one winner Theo Micouris.

Oscar once again took home the 3rd place trophy as well as winning the rookie trophy

Race 3

Third again from the start of the final race, with only Micouris and Tom Wood the two race winners ahead. He dropped to fifth at the mandatory stops, but his race ended early after being hit from behind coming into McLeans.

Unfortunately this was Oscar out of the race for his first career DNF.

A disappointing end to what would have been a fantastic debut weekend.

Testing

The Thursday was a long shakedown day for Peter and his new Radical SR3-XXR. Having one of the first UK models there were a few time consuming changes that needed to be made to the car. After a few sessions out in the wet, Peter was able to feedback the cars handling issues as well as some comfort elements to get him back to the same competitive standard he’s been used to, whilst still remaining conscious of some new characteristics of this new car.

Qualifying

Peters qualifying was looking good. As the time ticked down he was unable to secure a clean lap but regardless made it 12^th in qualifying. This proved to fairly be pleasing.

It felt so different to my old car and I hadn’t been in a car since last October. It was actually better than it felt and much closer on times

Race 1

It was a difficult race however, having been a victim of the oil spills at the start

I went off on the oil after a good start, so spent the restart coming back through the order

He was just inside the top 10 when the safety car reappeared, but finally managed to secure ninth a lap from home.

Race 2

In race two he lost an early 10th place to Jacek Zielonka, but having worked his way back into the top 10, a strong second half performance netted him an excellent seventh and third place in the Fangio Class.

Race 3

Having managed to avoid the incidents at the start of the final race, Tyler was in a solid sixth.

8 minutes in the pit lane opened to the mandatory pit stops.

Unfortunately, the lack of familiarity with the new SR3-XXR caused a few seconds of loss in the pit stop. He dropped a place back to Zielonka as a result.

At the end of the race Peter took the chequed in 7th place at 2nd in the Fangio class… HOWEVER, due to a penalty applied to #3 driver Preen, Peter moved up into 6th position and 1st in the fangio class!