DW Racing's Hobeika extends podiums streak in taxing Silverstone weekend

Lebanon’s Stephanie Hobeika extended her podium streak during a taxing weekend in the 750 Motor Club Radical Club Challenge, as she has now taken three consecutive P3 results from the first four car races of her burgeoning career.

Data and onboard videos revealed Hobeika was driving better than ever before in Qualifying, but sliding on brand new Hankook tyres impacted her confidence through Silverstone’s high-speed turns.

However, it was uncooperative traffic that actually prevented the Lebanese driver from deploying her true pace and she subsequently qualified fifth in class for both Radical Club Challenge races.

Happily, Hobeika picked up fourth position on the first racing lap on the Silverstone National circuit and then had a relatively quiet run to the finish, but she was later promoted onto the podium when Class C rival Scott Lear received a post-race penalty for passing under the Safety Car.

In Saturday’s latter Radical contest, Hobeika surged by race one sparring partner Lear as the 20-car field swept into the high-speed right-hander at Copse, but the pair continued to run nose-to-tail and trade places in a battle that raged on until lap seven.

The tussle for P3 ultimately ended with an unforced spin for Lear and, with an unbridgeable 15-second deficit to the Class C leaders, Hobeika was left to simply focus on keeping her nose clean to secure a third successive podium from four races.

“I didn’t expect to come away from only my second ever weekend of car racing in the 750 Motor Club Radical Club Challenge with two more third-place trophies,” said Hobeika. “The first race was hard because there was a lot going on, with many drivers going off and the Safety Car coming out, and the second podium was unexpected.

“On the whole, the Silverstone weekend has been harder than the opening round at Brands Hatch, but there’s a lot of information to take away and process, and I’m looking forward to applying what I have learnt next time out.”

John Davis pushed forward to a brace of very respectable seventh-place results in Round 2 of the 750 Motor Club Radical Club Challenge at Silverstone, where he also dabbled in a bit of tin-top racing in the PBS Brakes Hot Hatch Championship (9-11 May).

Davis enjoyed a full Friday test, using the extensive seat-time to optimise his racing lines and braking points on Silverstone’s short National layout with both his Radical SR3 XXR and Renault Clio Cup car.

The Welwyn Garden City racer was disappointed to qualify tenth in Class B for both Radical Club Challenge contests, but, keen to make amends, he immediately got the better of the #15 SR3 RS of Dean Hudson through Copse corner at the start of race one.

Further around the opening lap, Davis swept by the #55 machine of Daniel Headlam, but battles were neutralised by the Safety Car, which placed Davis neatly under the rear-wing of the seventh-placed #2 entry of Ross Board.

Unfortunately, positions were given away to the resurgent Headlam and Hudson once back up the full racing speed, but the DW Racing driver’s pace was such that he was able to drag himself back towards the simmering fight for sixth.

In fact, Davis eventually recovered the ground he had lost at the restart in two separate late-race overtakes, as he cleared the #30 SR3 RS of Mark Grason before pouncing on the #13 car of Ian McDonald for P7 at his favoured overtaking spot, Brooklands.

In the second Radical contest of the weekend, Davis wasted little time in snatching ninth from race one opponent McDonald, but Grason proved a more stubborn adversary.

The DW Racing driver kept showing his nose into the heaviest braking zones but was thwarted lap-after-lap, and it took a far more assertive lunge towards the apex of Brooklands corner to complete a pass for P8, which became seventh when a rival hit trouble three laps from the end.

With Round 2 of the Radical Club Challenge complete, DW Racing and Davis switched their open-cockpit SR3 XXR for a tin-top in the form of a fourth-generation Renault Clio Cup in the 750 Motor Club’s PBS Brakes Hot Hatch Championship.

The format comprised a 15-minute qualifying session and two sprint races of the same duration with standing starts.

Davis found chunks of lap time and confidence over the course of the fast and frantic Qualifying, upping his pace by more than three seconds to reach a 1m11.076s that was sufficient for a spot inside the top 20 on the multi-class grid.

The Welwyn Garden City-domiciled driver slipped backwards on the first racing lap for the Hot Hatch Championship but quickly recovered back to P20, clearing both the Renault Clio 197 of Craig Turner and the Ford Fiesta ST150 of Andrew Ward in one fell swoop along the Wellington Straight.

The action was briefly punctuated by a Safety Car and Davis not only dropped his pursuers, but powered up to and past the #17 Citroen Saxo VTS of William Bartup for 19th overall at the restart.

Further progress up the leaderboard was harder to come by and, although DW Racing’s Davis found an extra gear and cut his deficit to Zac Bunnell’s #291 Clio 197 from three seconds to eight tenths in just two tours of Silverstone National, he race time elapsed before he could reach his target.

However, the Davis-Bunnell battle was resumed in the second and final Hot Hatch Championship race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon.

A much stronger launch from the race two grid allowed Davis to pick off three cars and conclude the opening lap in 15th, once again placing directly behind the #291 Clio 197 with an expanding gap over the chasing pack.

The DW Racing contender turned up the wick on lap six and eroded his rival’s advantage at a vast rate by registering consecutive personal best times in the 1m10s, dispatching Bartup before trading places with Bunnell on each circuit of Silverstone.

Davis was able to power away out of Luffield and onto the start/finish straight, but repeated errors at Copse corner opened the door to retaliatory attacks and he ultimately finished the day in a creditable 13th overall.

“I’m happy with my performances in Round 2 of the 750 Motor Club Radical Club Challenge at Silverstone,” said Davis. “My race results all stem from qualifying towards the back of the Class B pack. Obviously starting further up the order gives you a chance of better finishes, but I still managed to move forward. In race two, I was stuck behind Mark Grason’s SR3 RS for many laps, but a lunge into Brooklands that came out of anger and frustration with myself succeeded. The field consists of ex-Champions and I’m still a work-in-progress, so I’m pleased to come away from Silverstone with a brace of P7s.

“Fun is the best word to describe the PBS Brakes Hot Hatch Championship. It was a hoot, with cars buzzing all around me and bumper-to-bumper action from start-to-finish in true touring car-style. I got a much better start in race two, and to go from 18th to 13th was a decent end to a great weekend at Silverstone.”