DW Racing trio bring silverware home from Radical Le Castellet 'flyaway'

Sam Shaw kept the initiative in the Hagerty Radical Cup UK SR1 Championship after finishing second to title rival Marcus Littlewood in all three races at Circuit Paul Ricard (6-7 July).

As in previous rounds, there was nothing to choose between Shaw and Littlewood for much of testing and free practice, but the latter always had a slight edge and ultimately bagged pole position.

The SR1 combatants had been trading fastest sectors, bettering each other until the very last, but DW Racing and Shaw were still chasing an optimised car setup, and how they would compare over a race distance was still an unknown on Sunday morning.

The signs were initially encouraging, as Shaw snatched P1 from Littlewood away from the start of race one, but the 19-year-old retired to pit lane with a severely damaged front splitter, sustained when he struck a bollard on only the second lap.

There was little time to repair the #16 SR1 once it was out of parc ferme during the 90-minute interval between Radical Cup UK races, but DW Racing still managed to turn the car around in time for the start of the second contest.

Shaw was keen to make amends but ended up a long way adrift of Littlewood after avoiding the spinning SR3 of DW Racing stablemate Peter Tyler.

There was little he could do to bridge the gap to his opponent, as he was battling excessive oversteer that was later attributed to a major camber misalignment – a consequence of his race-one contact.

However, the car was ‘flat-patched’ and rebalanced in readiness for race three, and Hampshire’s Shaw duly led away from pole position.

He kept the initiative in the early exchanges but eventually fell into the clutches of Littlewood, who found a way by on the third tour of Circuit Paul Ricard.

Nevertheless, classifying P2 in all three Radical races meant Shaw departed the South of France as the SR1 points leader, albeit with a diminished advantage and two rounds remaining on the Silverstone and Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuits.

“It has been a very difficult weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard, as we picked up quite a few issues that made life more difficult,” said Shaw. “DW Racing tried hard to resolve each of the problems, but we ultimately struggled for outright pace against Marcus (Littlewood).

“Still, there were good moments, because my starts were strong and I led race three for a while. There’s no doubt we have a lot of homework to do before the penultimate round of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone, but I’m confident in DW Racing’s ability to find solutions that will put us back up into a winning position.”

West Sussex’s Peter Tyler collected a brace of P3 results and a runner-up finish in Round 4 of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK in the heat of Le Castellet (6-7 July).

With no prior experience of Circuit Paul Ricard, Tyler had a lot of learning to do while DW Racing optimised the setup of his SR3 XXR in the 60 minutes of testing on Friday (5 July) evening and Saturday’s free practice sessions.

The Peterborough-based team’s efforts paid dividends, as it landed on a confidence-inspiring configuration in time for Qualifying, having also refined the Sussex racer’s seating position for the rigours of the high-speed French racetrack.

With more comfort and stability all-round, Tyler explored the limits a little more and this was evidenced, not only by his violent free practice spins, but the upward trend in his lap times.

In fact, he breached the 2m11s in the dying embers of Qualifying to lock-in P2 on the SR3 Fangio grid and a position in the top ten overall, from which he progressed to seventh while engaged in a race-long tussle with RSR’s John Macleod.

Later in race two, first-lap contact sent Tyler spinning out of eighth in the path of DW Racing teammates Oscar Joyce and Sam Shaw.

He was detached from the main pack in 11th but utilised a significant pace advantage over the #15 360 Competition of Amir Feyzulin to annihilate a ten-second deficit and overhaul the Dubai-based racer for another P3 Fangio finish.

From ninth on the race three grid, Tyler initially lost track position but followed DW Racing’s Joyce past the #14 RSR car of Macleod to secure second in the Fangio sub-class, before an unforced error by 360 Competition’s Jason Rishover promoted him to eighth overall.

“Circuit Paul Ricard is something to behold, because it’s so much bigger and faster than what we’re used to in the UK,” said Tyler. “The first challenge was to build knowledge before we could concentrate on going faster, and we made significant strides through testing and free practice, continually growing in pace and confidence in all three races, too.

“It was pleasing to start the day with a pair of third-place finishes in the SR3 Fangio class, but the results in race two could have been better had I not been tagged. However, our pace was strong and I had some good tussles during what was an enjoyable weekend in the heat of the South of France.”

A third-place result was the highpoint of Oscar Joyce’s Hagerty Radical Cup UK ‘flyaway’ weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard (6-7 July).

The “professional doodler” put in a measured performance in scorching temperatures to climb all the way from eighth to third in the first double points race in the South of France.

He had forward momentum and took a more aggressive stance from the get-go, working his way onto the rostrum with some well-executed overtakes as others faltered.

Decisive manoeuvres on RSR’s John Macleod and the #39 Radical France entry of Adrien Giraud as the duo swept through Chicane Nord meant Joyce was free to chase down third-placed Chris Preen.

London-domiciled Joyce took tenths out of the Valour Racing driver on each tour of Circuit Paul Ricard and, while the race time elapsed before he could mount a meaningful attack, third place went his way when the #82 car of Kristian Brookes rolled to a halt.

The second-fastest qualifying times determined the starting order for race two and Joyce had work to do from a lowly tenth position.

However, his race was severely hampered by an eventful first lap; he was pushed wide while wheel-to-wheel with 360 Competition’s Jason Rishover and then lost touch with the main SR3 pack as he dodged the pirouetting Peter Tyler, only able to recover to P9 with a high downforce setup that impaired his overtaking ability.

The 20-year-old was nevertheless optimistic about his chances from fifth on the race three grid.

He tumbled to ninth while boxed in away from the rolling start but, having reverted back to a lower downforce rear-wing setting, scythed past Macleod and homed in on a developing four-way fight for P4 involving Preen, Rishover, Giraud and Valour Racing’s Jack Yang.

An unforced error by Rishover and an overtake on Yang put Joyce seventh on the road, but a slew of track limits penalties affected 360 Competition’s Alim Geshev and lifted the DW Racing driver to sixth in the definitive classification.

 “I have learned quite a few things about myself as a driver and about the car in Round 4 of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Circuit Paul Ricard,” said Joyce. “I’ve gained a lot from racing these aero cars on what is a very wide grand prix track with a lot of long, high-speed corners. It has been a positive experience. Overall, I have been very consistent and, If we keep up this momentum, we will be in a good place come Silverstone.”