BRSCC BOUNDING BACK TO CROFT FOR SPRING RACE WEEKEND
The British Racing & Sports Car Club heads north to Yorkshire as we touch down for our first visit of the 2024 season to Croft in the north of the region. A circuit that’s flat, fast and challenging in its own right, Croft sees five of the Club’s championships and series make the trip with both sprint and endurance racing making up the timetable across both days once more.
The Fun Cup Endurance Championship had a spectacular opening race of their 2024 season at Oulton Park which had everything – wheel to wheel battles for position all race long, the natural intrigue pit stops strategy, safety cars and even a late rain storm to really ramp up the unpredictability. Their second outing of 2024 at Croft, which features a 1 hour “sprint” followed by a longer 3 hour race later in the day, is sure to be just as thrilling, especially with some teams looking to prove a point post-Oulton.
Round 1 winners MJ Tech took their first ever Fun Cup Endurance victory and will arrive looking to show that it wasn’t a one-off. Former champions Olympian, UVio/ Hofmann’s, PLR Racing, GCI Racing and Racelogic will all be out to score strongly, especially Olympian and UVio after they took to the podium at Oulton. Morpheus Motorsport made an instant impact on their full season debut but bad luck scuppered their chances of a win, while the rest of the pack will want to try and shake up the regular running order and score a decent result of their own.
The endurance baton then gets passed to the PBS Brakes SuperSport Endurance Cup for Sunday’s action, who are already on to their third race event of 2024 after Silverstone in March and Snetterton in April. So far, the championship has proven to be extremely popular with grids of over 30 cars in each and a great spread across each of the six classes. This being the championship’s first ever visit to Croft, expect the unexpected.
From a phalanx of BMWs at the head of the field in the Pro classes, to MINIs, Honda Civics, Mazda MX-5s and even the odd surprise or two, SuperSport Endurance Cup continues to sport a varied and competitive grid of cars, and Croft is set to be no exception with many of the main contenders in each class out to continue their championship charges.
The sprint racing action will also be enjoyable for many, too. The Nankang Tyre BMW Compact Cup only kicked off its 2024 campaign just recently at Oulton Park and is already back in action at Croft this weekend. Their opening two races produced plenty of the typical cut and thrust racing that the championship is known for, and also brought about the first pair of career wins for Joe Doble.
Joe’s pace saw him in fine form and he’ll want to carry that on at Croft, but is sure to have stiff competition from his main Oulton rivals – defending champion Gareth Claydon, Connor Grady, Ross Stoner and his father Mike Doble. Plus, there’s an additional element coming in from Croft onwards – the return of five time Compact Cup champion Steven Dailly, who we hear is planning to stick around for a while on the grid. That plus the number of fast drivers on this year’s grid mean that this weekend has some real prospects of being a thriller.
There’s also more one-make tin-top racing in store from the Vinyl Detail Fiesta ST150 Challenge, which is also not far removed from their opening races of 2024 at Brands Hatch. In Kent,a healthy grid of over 20 cars was present which included a great number of brand new drivers to the championship, some of which even made their marks straight out of the gate. Croft is a favourtie circuit for many in the championship, especially those whose previous experience comes from its XR Challenge/ STXR days in years gone by.
Wins at Brands Hatch were taken by Michael Blackburn and Sam Watkins, while podiums were also scored by Dan Robinson, Matt Pimlott, Dillon Davis, Liam Browning and Stephanie Sore, meaning seven different drivers have taken home silverware this season just from one weekend. Proof that the ST150 Challenge grid is as competitive as ever, expect others such as Paul Dobson, Chris Grimes and more to also try and make their mark in Yorkshire.
The BRSCC Evolution Trophy will also be out in force after their season began at Snetterton, with another great mix of cars expected on this collective grid. With the combination of the Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup, Finsport Renault Cup, BMW 1 Series SuperCup and Mazda MX-5 Mk4 Trophy all racing together on a single grid, whilst also racing against drivers in their respective category, it makes for a very busy and entertaining grid.
Classic VWs will feature a wide variety of different VW and VAG Group models, and has already seen VW Golfs and Beetles alongside SEATs and Audis thus far. In the Finsport Renault Cup ranks, expect a mass of Renault Clios with Meganes also welcome on this grid, while the BMW 1 Series SuperCup and MX-5 Mk4 Trophy will also surely showcase both of these developing spec series in all their glory.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
