DW Racing’s Oscar Joyce pulled off four impeccable podium performances to end the 2024 Kinetic7 Radical World Finals at Yas Marina Circuit (7-10 November) as Vice-World Champion.
The 19-year-old from Richmond, London took a hattrick of runner-up finishes and a third place result on his very first outing in a Radical SR10 XXR and his maiden visit to the home of the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, finishing P2 in the definitive World Championship.
In fact, Joyce was quick straight out of the blocks in qualifying, and the 1m55.726s that guaranteed him third on the Heat Race 1 starting grid was a full two seconds faster than his best lap in testing.
However, caught behind a stalled car at pit exit, “professional doodler” Joyce was unable to take up his position on row two of the grid and instead started the first heat from pit lane.
He faced a steep climb from the very back of the 32-strong multi-class field but, fired up, laid down fastest sectors while navigating the tail-ending Radical SR3s from the Pro1500 and Pro1340 classes.
The superior performance of his 450bhp SR10 XXR enabled him to clear slower cars on the straights with ease, although the lighter, nimbler SR3s proved a little more problematic in the tighter sections of Yas Marina’s 3.45-mile lap.
Deciding caution was the better part of valour, Joyce was patient and calculated when overtaking, and his pace was such that he was the second-placed Platinum class contender in sixth overall when the Safety Car intervened on lap seven.
The restart presented an opportunity to clear the leading Pro1500 entries in quick time and Joyce was second on the road, just 3.6 seconds adrift of race winner Alim Geshev at the end of a supreme race.
It was golden hour when the 2024 Radical World Finalists regrouped for Heat Race 2, Yas Marina’s floodlights just starting to dominate as the sun set over Abu Dhabi.
Joyce looked racy as the field swarmed on Turn 1 but had to settle in behind the polesitting #77 TT Racing entry of United Arab Emirates-based Geshev.
Heavily worn tyres prevented him from mounting a meaningful attack for the victory and he was instead forced to play a rearguard action with the #24 car of the late-charging Gregg Gorski looming ever larger in his rear-view mirrors.
The pressure told and a slight mistake left Joyce a little vulnerable, although clean and efficient traffic management kept him ahead, and he received the chequered flag still in the runner-up position with a slender half-a-second margin over his pursuer.
Richmond, London-based Joyce then started Sunday’s 45-minute endurance race from third, fresh Hankooks enabling him to get the better of Heat Race 2 sparring partner Gorski off the line and pull away by the tune of eight seconds.
However, problems restarting the #95 SR10 XXR in the regulation 45-second pit stop negated his good work, as the ten-second delay cost him track position to American opponent Gorski.
Nevertheless, the points Joyce accumulated for his three podiums in the heats also put him third on the grid for the ‘winner-takes-all’ World Finals Race, giving him every chance of becoming World Champion.
A first-corner shunt brought out the red flags, the grid was reset and Joyce aced the second start, immediately surpassing the Pro1500 car of RAW Motorsport’s Ian Aguilera.
Thereafter, a drive-through penalty for the chasing Platinum class contender Gorski freed him up to chase race leader Geshev.
The top two traded purple sectors during the early laps, but Geshev eventually put the hammer down in response to Joyce, who brought the #95 DW Racing SR10 XXR home in second overall to become Vice-World Champion, backing up his runner-up finish in the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK SR3 Pro Championship.
Reflecting on results that belie his lack of experience with a Radical SR10 XXR and Yas Marina Circuit, Joyce said: “There has been a lot of learning over the course of World Finals week, but it’s really positive to see that I can jump into a car I’m unfamiliar with at a track I’ve never visited and achieve big results. We chipped away in each session and were steadily closing in on Alim (Geshev) towards the end of the weekend, but fair play to him for being so incredibly consistent.
“DW Racing has done a great job, everybody has been super supportive and to come away from the 2024 Radical World Finals as Vice-World Champion is a great way to round out a successful season. Next year, I hope to go one place higher in both the World Finals and back home in the Radical Cup UK!”