FUN CUP ENDURANCE 2026 – ROUND ONE– OULTON PARK – REPORT
THERE’S NO STOPPING GRD
29 cars, seven different leaders, mixed weather and loads of action, Fun Cup was back with a bang at Oulton Park. But after four hours of racing there was a familiar look to the podium, with Team GRD’s Chris Dovell, Simon Rudd and Riley Phillips victorious, and joined by UVio/Hofmann’s and Vapeclub EDF, the top three from last years championship.
Seed Data’s Matt Hogg and Track Focused’s Sean Cooper shared the front row as the grid lined up for the season opener, but it was Cooper that led the charge down the Avenue, from Clapham North’s Abbie Eaton, Hogg, FNS Morpheus’ Steve Walton, Leigh Tec’s Brian Heerey and AxiaMetrics’ Tom Greensall.
Greensall was up to fifth over Hilltop as Heerey started to lose ground, but it was Vapeclub’s Ted Bradbury charging through the order, fourth by the end of lap three and closing on Hogg, as the lead pair tried to escape.
Bradbury was third into Knickerbrook on lap four, but UVio’s Fabulous Randaccio was on a charge too, heading an eight-car train for sixth and closing on Greensall too.
Cooper continued to push hard to extend his lead and was four seconds clear when the safety car came out on lap 14. Bradbury had just made it into second at Shell before the caution, Randaccio had taken fourth from Hogg, while Racelogic’s David Denyer, Greenheath’s Gary Bate and Viking’s Colin Kingsnorth disputed sixth, after FFS’s Nick Highton pitted early after their floor came adrift.
Cooper went for it again from the green flag, but succumbed to Bradbury’s challenge into Cascades on lap19, while a lap before Randaccio had taken third from Eaton too. “I had a good lead over Ted before the safety car and was enjoying it,” said Cooper.
Both the first driver change and the first hour were approaching and there had been a spot of rain too. Cooper pitted first to hand to Mike McCollum and a lap later Bradbury and Randaccio pitted together, with the majority following.
With an hour gone Farquini led Vapeclub’s Vlad Vassiliev by 2.321 secs, from GRD’s Simon Rudd, Greenheath’s Paul Turner, Seed Data’s Mike Devlin and Racelogic’s Julian Thomas, but Rudd was the one watch.
Just after the hour mark GRD ousted Vassiliev and soon closed in on UVio. “Fab had damaged the splitter and our car was a bit flat and stuttered. I couldn’t respond to Simon but it was OK in the tow,” Farquini explained after Rudd took charge from lap 29.
Vassiliev was still third, from Turner, but Sam Heading in the Rob Boston car was flying through the field, from dead last at the start to fifth, after demoting Thomas.
A second brief safety car intervention allowed Heading to close and just managed to get passed Vassiliev for third before the second pitstop window.
Heading was the first of the frontrunners to pit and hand to Tom Lebham and after the stops were completed he had the lead, from GRD’s Chris Dovell and UVio’s Randaccio, while Seed Data’s Hogg took Racelogic’s Denyer for fourth.
Dovell had slipped to third, leaving Lebham and Randaccio to dual at the front. They had a couple of exchanges as we reached half distance, but with the safety car out again too UVio led from Boston’s, with Seed Data third, from GRD, Greenheath and Track Focused, with GCI, Tropical Rocket, Demon Tweeks and Racelogic rounding off the top 10.
With the safety car still out it was a mass pitstop for the third window, with only Clapham North’s George Grant and AI Racing’s Miguel Faisca staying out, giving Grant the lead for one lap.
As the green flag waved again Turner led for Greenheath from GRD, UVio, Seed Data, GCI and PLR Racing. “Last to sixth, then fourth in the second stint, and came out with Paul in the lead, not bad,”said Greenheath’s Gary Bate.
Riley Phillips was soon ahead though for GRD and Bradbury had just taken second from UVio when the safety car was out again with both 22GT Racing and Anglo Asian Mining colliding heavily at Druids.
Three laps later it was green again and Philips was under immediate pressure.” I just went for it and we mugged Riley,” Bradbury explained, as he was now the leader with UVio second, Boston’s third and GRD back to fourth.
It only took a lap for Philips to regain the lead before he headed pitwards to hand back to Rudd for the penultimate stint, with the top three all pitting together.
The rain was falling heavier as they all rejoined, with 14 cars still on the lead lap. But the safety car was out again just before the three hour mark, after Marcus Clutton had one off at Druids in the Signature RV car.
So with one hour left on the clock it was a familiar look at the top of the leaderboard, with UVio’s Randaccio leading GRD’s Rudd and Vapeclub’s Bradbury, the top three from the 2025 Championship, while Boston’s newbies were fourth with Heading, from GCI’s Ian Wood and PLR’s Neil Plimmer.
So the battle was on for the first win of the season and it was UVio’s Randaccio setting the pace, after ousting Rudd on lap 78. Heading was first to pit with Rudd, with UVio staying out until last.
The gap had been over 20 seconds before the stops, but when Farquini rejoined he was 12 seconds down. The gap continued to grow and Phillips finally took the flag for GRD 25.345 secs clear. “Brilliant, but I was glad that it was Simon and Riley in the wet and not me. But we all had to work hard,” said the victorious Dovell. “Yes we all had to push hard today,” Rudd added.
UVio retained solid second, over Vapeclub. “It was a good race for us, but I got all the wet stuff, but Ted still went exploring a bit,” said Vassiliev.
Any hopes the Rob Boston team had of a podium ended when they Lebham had to serve a stop go penalty, dropping them to sixth behind Greenheath’s Bate and GCI’s Craig Butterworth.
AxiaMetrics, FNS Morpheus, Demon Tweeks and Seed Data rounded off the top 10, both Team Viking Ursus Capital and Tropical Rocket finished on the lead lap too.
https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BRSCC/2026/261531fun.pdf
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, April 13th 2026
