BRSCC DESCENDS AGAIN ON DONINGTON AS TITLE BATTLES HOT UP
The BRSCC 2025 Donington Park Autumn Race Weekend is set to deliver an unforgettable weekend of motorsport at the iconic Donington Park National Circuit. Featuring a thrilling lineup of endurance battles, one-make showdowns, and guest appearances, this event promises to be a highlight of the 2025 season. As the penultimate stop for many championships, the stakes have never been higher, with drivers and teams pushing to make their mark.
Once again ready to bring plenty of long distance entertainment, the Fun Cup Endurance Championship has just three races left to decide which squad takes the title for 2025. Championship leaders Olympian GRD are still currently in pole position to retain their title once again, but having not won a race in the last three events, it’s getting tougher for them to remain in P1. Especially, as their competition appears to have caught up and raised the stakes.
Perennial rivals UVio/Hofmann’s Motorsport are now just nine points behind on total scores, while Silverstone winners VapeClub w/ EDF will be on a high after capturing their first ever win last time out. Axiametrics have also slipped themselves into loose contention in fourth place, only 23 points off the top too. This means all four teams are going to be on their toes to make sure they remain in the fight going to the Oulton Park finale in October. With some 27 Fun Cup squads descending on Donington, the upcoming four hours is certainly going to be frantic, entertaining and enthralling from start to finish.
Sunday’s longest race will be the Silverlake C1 Endurance Series take their turn on Donington Park’s sweeping turns and climbs, with their final race of the 2025 campaign taking place here. This event will have a small tweak to the series’ format, as this will be the debut of the new Pro-Am class. In a bid to encourage more competition, entered teams will be classified thusly based on if they reach certain criteria from competing in previous races. That will certainly add an interesting extra element to the three hours ahead of the C1 as they get set to close out their year.
As you would expect, plenty of the usual suspects are back on the entry list for the last outing of the year. Double Snetterton winners WRC Developments are back with David Drinkwater and Ryan Bensley at the helm, but others will be desperate to take back the silverware. Serial winners Trojon Motorsport have their two cars back to full strength after issues and mishaps last time, series sponsors Silverlake will wheel out their Gen 1 and Gen 2 cars to compete once more, and other strong squads such as JW Bird Motorsport, BPC Motorsport, #blessed, Baycon Racing w/ Liqui Moly and Emax Motorsport will want their day in the sun.
It’s getting towards the sharp end of the 2025 BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship and Donington Park marks the penultimate stop in what has been the biggest, most successful and most competitive year for the paddock to date. With the closing stages of this year’s championship now upon us, every single result and point scored is going to be absolutely crucial in order to remain on top.
Even though Silverstone didn’t produce a race win, strong and consistent scoring on the National circuit helped Thomas Merritt retain his points lead over Isaac Doble, and while Thomas hasn’t won a race since his hat-trick at Anglesey, keeping in the conversation at the front has ensured that on the days he couldn’t win, he could still score well to keep his title hopes alive. Compare that with Isaac’s form, which started carefully at the beginning of the season but quickly gained pace and now has three wins from the last six races. The charge is definitely on, and if he can carry the same form through this weekend and the Brands Hatch finale, the title could still be his.
Archie Davies was the other victor at Silverstone, and third place in the standings means he’s in a great spot to capitalise on his good form. Especially with dropped scores likely to play a big factor, Donington will be another chance to score big and stay in the hunt. Dara McInerney, by contrast, had a Silverstone to forget – a DNF and two low scores, which will automatically become drops. He finds himself about 100 points away on total scores, and will need quite the weekend in order to stay in the hunt. Jack Burgess is another name that was a contender early but has slipped back too, the BPC Motorsport driver also keen to replicate his second place from Silverstone race three. All of the top five are capable race winners and certain to be in the fight.
2025 Scholarship winner Lewis Islin and his 2024 counterpart Daniella Sutton currently place sixth and seventh and having strong seasons which they can be proud of, whilst also hoping to end the year strong in these last two meetings. Chris Doble, cousin of Isaac is another wanting to rebound from a poor Silverstone and try to move from P8 in the table, while Oliver Heron and Eden Spanswick round off the top 10, the latter fresh off a first podium at Silverstone too.
Just two events are left in the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship, and Donington Park marks the penultimate stop on the 2025 tour. Both the Pro and Am title are still in play with six races left to run, it’s going to be exciting to see what plays out on the National circuit this weekend.
In pole position still is defending Pro champion Alastair Kellett, fresh from breaking his Silverstone National curse with two more wins to take his 2025 total up to six for the season so far. On total scores, he’s more than 100 points out in front, meaning that this weekend could the be key if he wants to head to the Brands Hatch finale with one hand potentially on the trophy. Despite a second place at Silverstone, a DNF this late in the season has really dented Gary Miller’s chances, meaning he’ll definitely be relying on dropped scores to stay in contention. Only two wins to his name this season, but Gary knows how to score well when he can’t take P1, so don’t expect him to hang back for one second.
George Foxlow is charging along in third place, the Fiesta Junior graduate tied on points total with Miller – getting quicker as each meeting. With podium placings now becoming a regular thing for Geore, staying in that hunt is going to be all key, especially if wants to end the season with at lease one more win. Zach Lucas is still fourth despite only having two victories so far in 2025, the second coming as recent as Snetterton in July. Zach has been a title contender previously, but seems to have dropped back to where he’s only three points behind the Miller-Foxlow tie for second in points.
Jason O’Connell has been an outstanding addition to the grid this year and is not only 5th overall, but by far and and away the leading Am driver in the field, looking to seal that crown at his very first attempt. His pace as even been good enough to take outright podiums and pole positions, so expect him to want to try and put his respective crown one more step out of reach of the others.
The likes of Simon Horrobin,Connor Blackburn and Morgan Kidd are going to be strong once again in Pro class, while Luke Warr, Maggie Webster and Dan Robinson are almost certainly going to be best of the rest of the Am’s behind O’Connell.
Donington Park marks the second to last outing of the season for the Geoff Page Engineering Super Classic Pre ‘99 Formula Ford Championship in 2025, another circuit that truly thrives when Formula Ford racing comes to town. Across all four classes, expect more typically fast and frantic action which is usually found when this paddock comes to town.
Super Classic A features some usual suspects, including runaway class points leader Tom Hawkins who is clearly out in front by more than 60 points. His closest rival Neil Hunt is in attendance too in his Mondiale, but will have to chase him hard throughout this weekend to minimise any points loss. Vincent Jay and a welcome returning Dave Porter also make up the rest of the class.
Super Classic B is where the brunt of the field can be found, with Chris Stones still heading Oliver Roberts here at this stage. Oliver has been in great form over the last couple of meetings and could be taking the fight to Stones all the way to the finale, but a pair of strong races here at Donington will almost certainly ensure he’s firmly within that. Others back for more from Silverstone include former Northern champ Jaap Blijleven, Koen Baretta and Don Boyack, plus both Tim Fitzgerald and Trevor Morgan add into the equation too.
Grace Bates is back in Super Classic C after she took a class victory in race two at Silverstone, taking advantage of issues for Colin Williams in the process. Colin is back for this one, as is Grace of course, while Harrison Morrow pilots the other Shaws Motorsport-entered car to make it a trio of SCC cars. George Townsend is also the sole Super Classic D runner, hoping to get amongst some of the younger cars in his Merlyn.
You’re never short of variety and strong numbers on the grid when it comes to the SW Motorsports ClubSport Trophy, and a trip this weekend to Donington Park’s National circuit will prove this statement true once again. Always a popular choice on the calendar each year, Donington is once again set to deliver another packed entry for this latest 45-minute mini-endurance pit stop race.
Class A is surely where we’ll find today’s race winner, especially as Silverstone victor Shane Kelly is back in the Morgan and this time joined by Karl Goshawk in the UWRacing run Plus Four. Competition in this class is due to come from the Lotus Exige S2 of Neil & Lloyd Huggins, VW Golfs for Richard Clarke, Mike Parsons and Adam Marshall, Graham Price’s Renault Megane and the MINI JCW of Richard Goodall.
There’s plenty more usual suspects found in Class B, including the regular influx of BMW Z4s, plus Audi TTs from Alistair Lindsay, Nick Brady and Rory Pickles, and the returning Honda S2000 of Stephen Harrison, meaning competition here is going to be fierce with no certain winner to pick from. The same could also be said for Class C, with favourites here set to be the likes of Charlie Hayes’ BMW Compact, the Toyota Celica of Ashley Parsons, Chris Mayhew’s Renault Clio run by Finsport and Rob Walker’s Mazda MX-5.
Mazdas and Renaults dominate Class D, with Barny Francis’ RX-8 amongst a selection of MX-5s heading up the Mazda contingent against Cavan Taylor and Steven Watson in their Renault Clios, with others wanting to succeed including Martin Smith’s MINI in the field too. Finally in Class E, Ben Amorim-Draper and Chris Fantana also wheel out their MX-5s to go up against Gary Hobbs’ Hyundai Coupe and Phil Adcock’s BMW Compact.
There’s also some excellent guest racing action set to come from the Northern Saloon & Sports Car Championship courtesy of the Darlington & District Motor Club, coming to Donington this weekend for something of an “away day” for their paddock. This is another grid that always promises and delivers a wonderfully eclectic field of cars up and down their line-up and this weekend is again going to be no exception.
Top cars in this entry are sure to be Matty Cobb’s extreme VW Beetle, Alan McPherson’s MK Indy, the Spire GTR of Jon Woolfitt, David Todd’s Subaru and Ian McLaughlin’s Ginetta, all of whom will certainly be vying to get to the top spot and take home silverware both overall and in class.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
