FUN CUP ENDURANCE 2026 – ROUND FIVE – DONINGTON PARK – PREVIEW
Its back to the one-hour sprint race and three-hour enduro for Fun Cup’s visit to Donington Park on Saturday.
Current leaders and defending champions Team GRD head the 27 car entry, with Chris Dovell, Simon Rudd and Riley Phillips, having won three races out of four this season.
Greenheath’s Gary Bate and Paul Turner are currently second, 18 points behind, but seeking their maiden victory. Consistency has been their success, despite being out of the top six in both races at Anglesey and looking for their first 2026 podium
Former Champions GCI are only two points behind Greenheath. Craig Butterworth and Ian Wood were second in round two at Snetterton and should be on or near the podium this weekend.
UVio Hofmann’s Farquini and Fabulous Randaccio started the season with a second place at Oulton Park, but after their technical disqualification at Snetterton, they took over the PLR car for the Anglesey weekend. A win and second in the new car was enough move them into fourth in the Championship and they will be looking to consolidate their title bid in the new car at Donington.
Two top six finishers at Anglesey brought Signature RV’s Steve Ruston, John Whitehouse and Marcus Clutton back into the reckoning too. They are now fifth in the table and head GRD in the Masters Championship.
Vapeclub EDF’s Ted Bradbury and Vlad Vassiliev started the season with a fourth at Oulton, but gave Snetterton a miss after mechanical issues. They are now sixth in the points after coming back strongly at Anglesey, taking second in race one and third in race two.
AxiaMetrics and Seed Data are in joint seventh and just two points behind Vapeclub. Chris Weatherill heads the AxiaMetrics line-up as usual, with William Smith and they are joined this weekend by Ed Bridle, as they seek their top six finish of the year. While Seed Data’s Mike Devlin and Matt Hogg had a seasons best fifth at Snetterton, they are desperate for a podium finish.
Demon Tweeks once again have two cars. Brothers Jason and Guy Minshaw share 249 with nephew Jack and had a sixth at Snetterton, leaving them currently ninth overall.
207 is once again shared by Mark Burton, with Matt Reeve returning after missing Anglesey, while Historic F1 ace Michael Lyons completes their line-up again, as they currently hold fifth in the Masters table.
The Rob Boston Rare Vinyl car has Rob Croydon making his seasonal debut alongside former British GT racer and MX-5 ace Tom Roche. The car has had several driver line-ups and is 10th in the current standings, after finishing fifth last time out.
It’s back to a three-driver line-up for the Sunoco Racing Team, as Axel Hildebrand rejoins Father Anderss and Phil Keen after missing Anglesey.
Team Clapham North with EDF have made a strong start to their first season of Fun Cup racing. The versatile Abbie Eaton has shown she can challenge for the lead already and race by race George Grant is getting quicker.
It’s welcome back to Northern Velocity’s Jack Harding, Alan Henderson and Jake Simpson as they were forced to miss Anglesey. They were able to rob Mr Rose’s prize fund too with a fine third on their Fun Cup debut at Oulton Park.
Tropical Rocket have also impressed with teenagers Neo Clarke and Josh Phelps both showing front running pace. They had a fourth in the first of the Anglesey races, and both return to Donington where they debuted last year.
Having shared two cars between their three drivers at Anglesey, Red River Sport are settling for the simple life this weekend. So Johnny Mowlem , Bonamy Grimes and Gareth Williams just share the one at Donington.
Rob Boston Racing do have a second car though, with MX-5 ace Will Blackwell-Chambers joined by Jason Baker and James Reilly. Blackwell-Chambers shared the Rare Vinyl car at Anglesey.
Team Viking Ursus Capital are still settling back into the UK Championship after two years in France. Mark Holme has former partner Nick Nun sharing again this weekend as they strive to get back into the top 10.
Matt Hyde was on the podium with Team Sherardize UK at Anglesey, but he shares with Fuelled by Data’s Elisha Day and Simon Lidzen at Donington.
There are two father and son teams as regulars Andrew and Pierre Renom are joined Nick and Rupert Adcock. It’s the Adcock’s now traditional one-off for the season, as Nick fits it in with globetrotting Sports Prototype schedule.
Steve Walton and Greg Evans were out in a new car at Anglesey, but had a troublesome debut. Miguel Faisca and Andre Seminara share the AI Racing Tech car, as do Shay Brennan and Shiv Sapra for Leightec.
Garry Summers and Graham Winstone share again and the Anglo Asian Mining trio of Guido Basile, David Clark and Steve Harris are back after missing Anglesey.
Finally Brian Heerey is due out in the 225 car that UVio started the season in, which was then used by PLR at Anglesey. He is out with co driver Stewart Lines, but one noticeable absentee is PLR’s Neil Plimmer, believed to be missing only his third Fun Cup race ever!!
Qualifying is at 9.10 on Saturday with the one-hour sprint race off at 11.45. The three-hour enduro then sets off at 15.55 and will all be streamed via the Fun Cup website.
So who is your money on??
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, July 15th 2026
