It may only be early August but already some of the club racing seasons are drawing to an end and Mini Challenge Clubsport champion Oli Willmott concluded his campaign in style with a dominant winning treble at Donington Park last weekend.
The Mini Cooper S pilot led home Adrian Linggi in race one, with James Dudley a distant third. But Linggi cooked his engine and retired from the sequel, which left Dudley in second from Simon Sinfield. Fifteen seconds behind Willmott, a returning Rob Gaffney ousted Freddy Hewitt from second in the finale, while Dudley clinched third and a hat-trick of podiums of his own.
Another driver making a return in Leicestershire was reigning TCR UK champion Adam Shepherd, but this time he was at the wheel of an unfamiliar Audi. After a couple of early exchanges with Max Hart’s Honda, Shepherd scored a comeback win in the opener. Behind, Hart was reeled in by Callum Newsham’s Hyundai and Harry Bloor’s Honda, with a track-limits penalty for the latter enabling Newsham and Hart to complete the podium.
Rod McGovern’s Cupra led from the start of race two, but couldn’t hold off the building pressure as Bloor, Hart and Jenson O’Neill-Going’s Honda all went by on lap three of 18. While Bloor took the spoils, Shepherd finished strongly to take Hart for second.
Bloor scored his second win having demoted Shepherd on the fourth lap of their final race. Shepherd then had his hands full as Maximus Hall’s Honda piled the pressure on snatching second with five laps remaining.
Elsewhere, there were four different winners in four races for the British Truck Racing Championship. Points leader David Jenkins’ MAN was all over Stuart Oliver’s Volvo throughout race one, but had to settle for second, while in race two he was second again behind Steve Powell’s MAN.
Michael Oliver’s MAN and Craig Reid’s Iveco were victorious in races three and four respectively, but the planned finale was red flagged on the opening lap after Simon Reid rolled through the Craner Curves.
Stuart Oliver was one of four different Truck winners at Donington
Photo by: Mick Walker
Having led the opening laps of the first CNC Heads Sports & Saloons bout, Chris Roberts’ BMW M4 was forced to pit with a loss of boost. Simon Allaway’s Lotus Esprit then led with Zack Booth’s Renault Megane and Richard Wright’s Solution F BMW exchanging for second. But, with Allaway somewhat harshly penalised for an alleged jump start, he was relegated to third with Wright the victor.
Race two only lasted two laps, as two red flags brought it to an early end with Roberts declared the winner, from Allaway and Anton Landon’s Fisher Fury.
The Civic Cup was another category where each race was won by a different driver. Matt Wilkins spent the first half of the opener chasing Sean McGovern, before making the decisive move on lap six of 12. They continued to stay close to the flag though, while the four drivers behind were all given track-limit penalties, which handed third to seventh-placed Alistair Camp.
Spencer Stevenson led much of race two until retiring with two laps to go, which left Dave Marshall clear, while Josh Bromley just held off Wilf Butler and Louis Austin for second. McGovern was the third victor, but it was mighty close for third, as Wilkins just held off Marshall, while they were both promoted after Jake Hewlett was disqualified from second for a technical infringement.
Nick Hull and Richard Avery’s Porsche finished strongly to take the Britcar Endurance laurels, from Sam Howarth’s similar Porsche and Colin White’s Ginetta.
Aaron Thompson won the first of two Pickup races, but second-placed Allen Cooper was penalised for track-limits abuses, which dropped him behind Ryan Hadfield. Cooper then won race two, but was penalised again, relegating him to second and handing Thompson another victory.
Carl Swift headed home Andrew Rogerson in the first Audi Cup race, but revenge was sweet in race two when he took the win over Sam Meagher.
Swift (l) and Rogerson had hard-fought Audi tussle
Photo by: Mick Walker
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– The Autosport.com Team
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