BRSCC & TCR UK READY FOR A SUMMER STORMER AT SILVERSTONE
Having not raced on the National layout since 2020, the British Racing & Sports Car Club brings back TCR UK to the home of British Motorsport as Silverstone awaits this weekend. With the second half of the season fully underway and the battle at the top of the championship getting ever more tense, this will be a weekend full of action and excitement, both from the touring cars and excellent supporting cast on the timetable!
TCR UK TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
The fifth weekend of racing for this year’s TCR UK Touring Car Championship brings the series back to Silverstone’s National circuit for the first time since 2020 and the first visit back to Silverstone itself since 2021 when the International circuit was used. Another healthy entry of just over 20 cars is set to line up this weekend, as the fight for the crown prepares to take another important twist.
Knockhill in Scotland last time out produced race wins for both Alex Ley and championship leader Carl Boardley. After clinching his first TCR UK win at Oulton Park, Carl’s pace in Scotland was sublime and two more victories only strengthened his place at the top of the standings further. Now Carl heads to Silverstone with a lead of 25 points on dropped scores ahead of former leader Bruce Winfield, who had been at the head of the standings throughout the first half of the season.
Bruce himself has found his pace to be a little lacking last time and is seriously hoping that Silverstone can be another turning point in his form. With wins under his belt from Snetterton and Oulton Park, he will be keen to take the fight to Carl and take this championship battle down to the wire. Currently in third place is Adam Shepherd who has been scoring some excellent results on a limited budget this season and is only twenty points back from Winfield in second. If he can also find a little bit of good fortune, he’s still in with a chance of this championship.
Jac Constable sits in fourth place while Jenson Brickley and Alex Ley, both winners this year and Fiesta Junior graduates, currently tie in fifth only five points behind Jac. All of them have really found a groove this season and with the margins so fine between the trio, they know that every single point they can score will be crucial come the end of the season.
Joe Marshall, Brad Hutchinson, defending champion Chris Smiley and Bradley Kent complete the current top ten in points, with Smiley now choosing to focus on developing his new FL2 Honda Civic further throughout the rest of the season ahead of a bid to regain his title in 2024. Many of the regular names and faces are back on the grid, including those that missed Knockhill, while Jeff Alden rejoins the TCR UK line-up from Civic Cup with a second Vauxhall Astra TCR alongside Darelle Wilson, run by Matrix Motorsport with DW Racing. We also welcome back Andy Wilmot who makes his second appearance of the season after joining in at Croft.
BRSCC FIESTA JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Looking back at just how far the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship has come since the end of 2019, it’s incredible to see just how much progress the series has made in that time. The start of the 2023 season was already writing history with the biggest ever grid at 22 cars, and while that has remained consistent throughout the campaign so far, this weekend’s rounds at Silverstone are set to raise the bar even further. Heading to the home of British motorsport, the Fiesta Junior grid sits at a staggering 26 cars, once again breaking the record for its largest grid to date. This also includes no less than six drivers make their debuts, all of which will hope to be up to speed against the established names.
Speaking of which, there’s still a title battle waging as Silverstone approaches. Ben Mulryan not only leads the Mk7 class, but his fine form throughout the year has given him the overall points leads heading into this weekend. With three outright victories to his name so far this year, Ben has really stepped up to the mark this season in the new car and will want to carry on proving his superb pace this time out. Trying to chase him down is top Mk6 ST150 runner Sam Neser, who is yet to secure his first FJC win, but podium finishes in all but one of the races he’s finished this year have helped him stay high in the table.
Luke Hilton and Daniel Lewis are just two points apart in third and fourth, with Ronnie Smith a little further back in fifth, while Hadley Simpson heads up what’s turning out to be a very congested battle for sixth place downwards. Jensen Bell, Knockhill winner Jacob Hodgkiss and Lucas Hayden are all in the mix and will hope that Silverstone produces the results they need to close the gaps.
Alongside just about all of our regular drivers this season, they are joined this weekend by those six aforementioned rookies making their FJC debuts. Four will race as guests and will be invisible for points, these being Luke Sintler (driving for Jeakins Race Preparation who also make their championship debut too), Tommy Harfield, Alfie Garford and Finn Leslie. Luke and Finn will pilot brand new Mk7 builds, while Tommy and Alfie will be in Mk6s. They’re joined by fellow newcomer Michael Wheeler, also in a Mk6, and Henry Howarth who has waited until Silverstone to finally make his first appearance with JamSport.
All in all, this will be another weekend to remember for Fiesta Juniors, as the 26 strong grid prepares to make even more history in this landmark 2023 season!
FUN CUP ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
We’re getting towards the business end of the season for this year’s Fun Cup Endurance Championship, and there’s plenty of reasons for everyone to smile this weekend. For one, there’s an influx of new and returning teams which bolster the grid to its largest number this year with 25 teams set to take part. How they’ll play their part in the ever twisting and turning title battle remains to be seen.
After submitting to key rivals UVio/ Hofmann’s Motorsport at Anglesey courtesy of their double header victories, current points leaders Team Olympian only reinforced their championship lead further last time at Oulton Park, as they took full advantage of first lap dramas for UVio which put them straight out of contention for the win. The trio of Riley Phillips, Chris Dovell and Kristian Rose took their third win of the season this not only pushed them back to the top, but UVio’s bad day demoted “Farquini” and Fabio Randaccio down to third.
Through all of this, the main benefactors have been PLR Racing. Yet to win a race in 2023 but looking rock solid and consistent, their strong results have helped them rise to second place and only eight points away from leaders Olympian. If they can keep this up, then both Neil “The Captain” Plimmer and Ben Pitch know all to well that one slip from the leaders could give them the advantage. Another team that’s managed to score consistently is GT Radial, with their rotation of driver typically lining up with Ellis Hadley in their driving strength and now holding fourth at this stage.
In fact, GT Radial are at the head of a very close knit and tightly fought group of cars from fourth all the way down to as far as fifteenth place. Team Greenheath are just six points away from P4, Viking/ Ursus Capital in P5, two EDF Motorsports cars in P7 and P8, then MJ Tec and Red River Racing complete the top ten. Between these six teams, just 34 points separate them which may seem like a large amount, but if any of them find themselves hitting problems, it could really change the dynamic of this top ten battle.
As for new and returning teams, one name that will be very familiar to fans of the championship in previous years is back – Team Racelogic. Julian Thomas returns to the grid with David Denyer in a bid to reignite some of that old FunCup magic that helped his team take multiple titles in the past. The Signature Motorhomes team aren’t new for this weekend, but what is new is their car as they’ve purchased their own FunCup racer after competing in a hire car throughout the year so far. Plus the championship also welcomes renowned champion Caterham squad DW Motorsport, as they make their debut too. Their driver line-up includes a certain Stewart Lines – we’re certain we’ve heard that name somewhere before…
AIRTEC MOTORSPORT FIESTA ST240 CHAMPIONSHIP
In its first season running as a single class championship, the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship has certainly proven itself to be living up to its potential and has been putting on thrilling tin-top racing since the start of the season. As the second half of the year begins, the ST240s are venturing back to Silverstone but this time on the National layout rather than the Grand Prix circuit they competed on in May.
Leaving Knockhill, the Pro class points lead on dropped scores was held by Alastair Kellett, with the 2016 champion determined to finally secure the long awaited second title that he’d only just missed out on in 2021 and 2022. A win and a second place helped him increase his lead over Albert Webster to 31 points and if he keeps this momentum up, then he’ll prove to be very hard to beat for the rest of the season. Webster, meanwhile is having the season of his life, having already secured his very first race win at Oulton Park and collected four more podiums along the way too. In fact before dropped scores, Albert has scored more than anyone else in the championship this year so far, but now finds himself the hunter rather than the hunted.
There’s a neat little battle brewing for third place behind the top two, too. John Cooper currently holds the final podium spot in the standings, but only has a mere three point advantage over Simon Horrobin in fourth. On their days, both have the pace to be fastest of the pack, but more often than not bad luck hinders their progress or any potential results. If both can keep out of trouble and be on the pace, watch for them to bid for podium finishes.
Matt Luff is fresh from his first ST240 win at Knockhill and will be riding the crest of a wave of confidence off the back of that. His pace is steadily getting quicker and quicker to the point that he’s becoming more of a regular front runner, so the outgoing Civic Cup champion will be another name in contention to win too. As will Zachary Lucas as well, although he hasn’t won a race since Snetterton and his pace has been very up and down in recent rounds and will be desperate to get back into the lead group once again.
Let’s not forget the battle in the Club class, either. Morgan Kidd has been able to maintain her lead in the class heading to Silverstone, although she only holds a 22 point advantage at this stage over Connor Blackburn. Marco Ricci has kept it clean and tidy all year to carry on scoring consistently and holds third in Club ahead of Caitlyn May and Sean Reynolds. This weekend also welcomes a new driver to the grid as Christopher Blackburn makes his ST240 debut with JRW Motorsport.
SUPER CLASSIC PRE-99 FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP
The Super Classic Pre ‘99 Formula Ford Championship has regularly been known as a series that has frequented many of the best northern and north western circuits around the UK. However as part of its first full season purely for Kent-engined Formula Fords, the championship visits the Silverstone National circuit which is a renowned layout for the category in general for the latest rounds of the 2023 season. With four classes of car spanning the period of 1967 to 1998, there’s plenty of the usual variety expected once more.
There’s a thriving Super Classic A class for this round, which includes current class points leader Morgan Dempsey. The father of last year’s National Formula Ford champion Jordan has been putting in some impressive performances this year and he’s up for the challenge of defending his lead at Silverstone. Those looking to unseat him this weekend include Alex Ames, Jonathan Barnes, Paul Mason, Richard Freye, Neil Hunt and David Porter, almost all of which are present in early 1990s Van Diemens (aside from Hunt in his Mondiale). Alongside them, Oliver Roberts also wheels out his 1992 Swift as a guest entry this weekend, as does Gaius Ghinn in another Van Diemen.
Super Classic B looks as though it’ll be an interesting competition too. Andrew Schofield is another of the class leader looking to stretch the gap to second downwards even further, with Trevor Morgan set to be his closest points competition given that Robert Higgins is not present this weekend. Garath Buckingham will also be there for company, along with class guests Jacob Tofts, Tim Fitzgerald and Andrew Ames.
Paul Crosbie will be the sole points scoring runner in Super Classic C, joined by another guest driver in the form of Phil Attwood in his Crossle, while Scott Rawlinson and Ian Fernihough look ready to duel for Super Classic D honours amongst each other.
SW MOTORSPORTS CLUBSPORT TROPHY
It’s standard practice these days that the SW Motorsport ClubSport Trophy provides either near-full or sold out grids no matter what circuit it visits during the season. Having already competed once at Silverstone this season right at the start of the year on the GP circuit in March, the series returns to tackle the shorter National layout on this occasion and as expected, there’s a packed and variety-filled entry ready for the off.
Class A sports one of its healthiest entries to date this year, with lots of regulars and familiar names turning out this weekend. David Shead’s BMW Compact is certainly going to be in the mix, as will Phiroze Bilimoria’s VW Scirocco, Matthew Bolton’s BMW M3, JamSport team boss Jamie Going’s Ford Fiesta and David May back in action in the Nissan 370Z. The class is also filled out by Lee Reynolds in his Honda Integra DC5, the Honda Civics of Ryan Bensley and Josh Beardsley, and the VW Golfs of David Cox and Mark Jones.
It’ll be just as busy in Class B, too. Proving that they’re a versatile race car, the new Audi TT Cup Racing cars are back to have some fun with Scott Parkin and Luke Handley wheeling out a couple to play. The Culleys, Martyn and Barrie, are back too with their brace of SEAT Leon Cupras, as is Eliot Dunmore’s Subaru BRZ, Jeremy Hart and Philip Evans in his Honda Civic and another Civic in the hands of Trevor Hurrell.
Over in Class C, Brendan Murphy is another returning regular in his BMW E36 Compact, but he’s got a quartet of hot hatches to deal with this time. Chris Stone and Owen Hillman bring another Honda Civic Type R each, alongside Ashley Parsons in a Renault Clio 197 and Jonathan Hunter in his VW Scirocco.
The same could almost be said about Class D, as it too is feeling hot hatch effect also. Cameron Bell’s Toyota MR2 is the odd one out, set to square off against the Renault Clios of Kate Morris and Dan Blake, Julian Hamer’s MINI and former Fiesta Junior racer Archie Handy in his Fiesta ST150.
Finally in Class E, this could turn out to be the most congested class battle of them all with no fewer than ten cars on the entry list here. There’s a trio of Mazda2s in the mix, along with BMW Compacts for Chris McGinley and Colin Whitehouse, a Mazda MX-5 for Chris Fantana and Matthew Footman’s Ford Puma. Talented Irish lady Nicole Drought shares a MINI with Matt Mills, Paul Connell brings out his Mk2 VW Golf and finally Dean Lomas and Martin Walker being their wonderfully unique little Fiat Panda to complete the grid too.
WELSH RACING DRIVERS ASSOCIATION
As an extra added element to the Silverstone timetable, the Welsh Racing Drivers Association are this weekend’s guests on the race programme with their Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship providing a very enigmatic array of machinery on display. While there are a number of classes in this championship, there’s also an overall points battle being fought at the same time with Wayne Spiller heading Class 2 and outright n his Mazda ahead of Mike Cook’s Class 3 BMW 330 and Craig Attard in another Class 2 Mazda.
Elsewhere on the entry list, there some rather more extreme race cars to be found here too. Nigel Mustill has the awesome looking Volvo S60 “Solution F” racer in his hands this weekend, while Gareth John and Dave Krayem bring a pair of Ginettas out to play too. Plus, Christian Douglas is on the grid in an Ariel Atom, along with Keith Butcher who has a rather fearsome Lamborghini Huracan at his disposal and must start the weekend as favourite. In addition, Scott Parkin will also race here as a guest in his Audi TTCR racer too.
Scott Woodwiss
