FUNCUP OPENS FOR BUSINESS FOR 2018 AT OULTON

On Saturday at Oulton Park, all things Volkswagen-related descend on our second racing meeting of the season there within 3 weeks! There may only be two championships on the bill, but that doesn’t mean the on-track action is going to be any less entertaining.

The main track action of the day will be dominated by the opening 4 hour epic from our resident endurance championship, the FunCup. These cars are single seater chassis with silhouette bodywork and can see teams of 2-5 drivers sharing the car over the course of a race weekend and indeed a season. 2017’s entry was one of its best yet with a raft of new teams taking the plunge to compete against the established names. This season there’s more of the same but here’s a quick look at who to be an eye on.

Reigning champions JPR Uvio see one half of their double title winning duo change, as Graham Roberts moves on to leave Farquini Deott to line up with a new teammate in Fabio Randaccio, but now the pressure will be on to keep the #1 on the door for another season. The Track Torque 2 Rent Domino’s pairing of Henry Dawes and Chris Hart will be keen to try and pounce on the opportunity to snatch the title for themselves, while stalwart teams Racelogic, CCS Media and Honeywell will all be breathing down their necks to claim glory too. Other outfits to watch include Sheradize, Team Lane Roofing, Team Dispatchbay.com, Apollo Motorsport and the inspirational pair of cars entered by Team BRIT. 28 cars are expected to line up in what’s expected to be another classic FunCup year.

Keeping up the VW theme will be the Teekay Couplings Production GTi Championship, which takes another big step forward in 2018. After both the Mk2 Championship and Mk5 Series ran together on track when racing in 2017, the decision has now been made to allow the Mk5s to now score points for the first time as a class in the overall championship. This should now add an extra competitive element to proceedings, with a decent Mk5 entry set to take off.

Adam Hance will be one of the standout names in the Mk5 class along with good friends Simon Hill and Martyn Walsh, the pair never finishing a race without a smile on their faces if a battle between them takes place. Others who will be in the mix include James Howlison, Paul Blackburn and Altay Ali. In the Mk2 contingent, reigning double champion Chris Webb wants to make it a hat-trick this year and will be fighting hard to keep the #1 for himself. However, the likes of Dan Gibbs and Nick Porter will be doing their utmost to try and stop him and both will look to the opening rounds to try and gain an early advantage should Webb falter in some way.

After last weekend’s British GT Championship meeting was sadly abandoned due to adverse weather conditions including torrential rain, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the track has dried out and that it remains precipitation free throughout today’s proceedings. Nevertheless both the FunCup and Production GTi competitors are certain to provide some great entertainment all day long!

Scott Woodwiss