FUN CUP ENDURANCE 2026 – ROUND FIVE & SIX – DONINGTON PARK – RACE REPORT
VAPECLUB DUO SO CLOSE TO DONINGTON DOUBLE!!
It was action all the way at Donington Park, as The Vapeclub pair of Vlad Vassiliev and Ted Bradbury came desperately close to a double win. Victory in the Sprint race and a lead in the Enduro, until a track limits penalty proved decisive.
It was close formation at the start of the one-hour sprint, with Rob Boston Racing’s Will Blackwell-Chambers the initial leader from Tropical Rocket’s Neo Clarke, Vassiliev and Seed Data’s Matt Hogg.
The lead pair swapped in the chicane on lap four, but Blackwell-Chambers took the lead back at McLeans on the same lap, as the top four broke clear.
Clarke led again to Redgate a lap later, but it had closed up again and the top seven exited Coppice line astern. Tom Roche now led for Rare Vinyl, from Rob Boston’s James Reilly, AxiaMetrics Will Smith, UVio Hofmann’s Fabulous Randaccio, with Clarke now fifth, closely followed by Clapham North’s Abbie Eaton, Northern Velocity’s Jack Harding and a rapidly closing Simon Rudd for GRD.
Roche was the pacesetter though, as the chasing pack continually reshuffled, with Randaccio briefly leading too after a couple of exchanges with Smith.
The first pitstop window soon followed, with Rudd and Eaton the first stoppers, while the top three waited until just before the halfway mark before their first stops. So with 30 mins gone just 0.564 secs covered leader Rob Croydon for Rare Vinyl and the double stinting Rudd and Randaccio for GRD and UVio.
Within a lap Croydon had been relegated to third, with Rudd out in front as the safety car appeared to recover James Reilly’s RBR car from the chicane gravel trap, after he had contact with Tropical Rocket.
After four laps it was green with Randaccio and Rudd swapping and changing for the lead, as Bradbury closed in too.
Rare Vinyl were out though, pulling off at Redgate after Croydon had contact on the pit straight, moving Clarke into fourth from Tropical Rocket
It had been a short second stint though as the final pitstop window soon arrived, with UVio and Tropical Rocket both early stoppers.
With the stops completed, there was time for just four more laps and it was between GRD, UVio and Vapeclub. Bradbury hit the front on lap 33, but a late lock up for Phillips at Redgate almost allowed UVio’s Farquini through for second, after they went side by side down the Craner Curves.
But Bradbury held on to take Vapeclub’s first win of the season by 0.318secs over GRD, with UVio another 0.457 secs behind in third as the race was red flagged a few minutes early. “I gave it my all after that last stop, closed in and led from Coppice,” said Bradbury. “My job was to stay in touch, I lost a few places but no real time. Then avoided damage and Ted did it,” Vassiliev replied.
“We had some damage after contact with Croydon,” Rudd added. “I didn’t get close enough to rechallenge Ted and was defending too for second place,” Phillips admitted. “I had hoped for a fight to the end as it was shaping up nicely,” Farquini added.
Tropical Rocket’s Josh Phelps had initially been classified fourth, but his race stopping collision with Anglo Asian Mining David Clark on the Craner Curves earned him a 30 second penalty for causing contact, but was still classified 15th.
Greenheath’s Gary Bate and Paul Turner therefore took fourth, with Signature RV’s John Whitehouse, Steve Ruston and Marcus Clutton and Sunoco’s Anders and Axel Hildebrand with Phil Keen the rest of the top six.
“23rd to ninth in the first 20 minutes, I impressed myself and then Paul was mega at the finish,” said Bate. “We had damage too after contact with Croydon, Clutton added. “The car wouldn’t turn in properly after the contact, but after losing places at the start, the safety car worked well for us,” said Ruston.
AxiaMetrics just missed out on the top to six, but led home a six-car train for seventh, from Team Viking, GCI, Demon Tweeks, Northern Velocity and Seed Data.
RACE TWO
Despite the three-hour duration, it was still into sprint action once the lights went out. John Perrott led the opening lap for FNS Morpheus, from Croydon and Eaton. But Eaton was nearly through, when her rivals delayed each other with exchanges into and out of the chicane.
Into the chicane for the second time Eaton was through, with Perrott still holding on, while Croydon was forced to succumb to pressure from Harding and Bradbury.
The lead pair managed to make an early break, until Harding caught them again, but it was race over for Red River, when Bonamy Grimes hit the chicane tyre stack. “No one helped me, it was all my own doing, I just outbraked myself,” he admitted.
On lap five Harding managed to split the lead duo at McLeans and was soon challenging for Eaton’s lead. He briefly got ahead, but it was back to three in a row at the chicane and Perrott was third again on the exit. “Abbie dived for my inside, I could see her coming, then I lost her and had to bail out. So I went across the chicane, later had contact at the Old Hairpin and fell back,” Harding explained.
Bradbury had also lost time. “I got it all wrong and missed my braking point at the chicane,” he admitted.
Harding was falling back too, with RBR’s Blackwell-Chambers ousting him for third and now challenging the lead pair himself.
Second at McLeans on lap eight, he led into the chicane, but the fight had allowed Randaccio and Croydon to close again too, both demoting Perrott a lap later.
Blackwell-Chambers lead had begun to grow, but Randaccio was now his pursuer, having taken second into McLeans on lap 10, with Eaton third, from Croydon, Perrott and the recovering Bradbury.
Bradbury took both Perrott and Croydon for fourth into the chicane, and then Eaton for third at Coppice, just before the safety car came out.
It was soon green again and Bradbury’s immediate attack netted him second at the chicane, before leading at the Old Hairpin a lap later, with Randaccio following him through. “It was a struggle, I had lost the splitter after being forced wide by GCI, so the handling wasn’t good,” Randaccio explained.
The top five though were back in line again before the first stop. Blackwell-Chambers was the first of the leaders to stop from third, with the top five ging in a couple of later.
UVio’s Farquini and GRD’s Rudd both had spells in front after the first stop, but it was Rare Vinyl’s Roche in front as we completed the first hour, fractionally ahead of Rudd and Farquini in a three-way scrap, followed by RBR’s Jason Baker, Vassiliev and GCI’s Craig Butterworth
Rudd managed to get ahead again on lap 44, but couldn’t shake-off Roche, Baker and Farquini, before a gap to a solitary Vassiliev in fifth.
It continued just as close until the next pitstop window, but it was Roche back ahead, with Vassiliev completing a top four who all pitted together, after Baker had gone in earlier.
Vassiliev was first out, leading from Randaccio and Croydon, with GRD’s Phillips down in fourth. But after a couple of laps Randaccio was in front, with Vassiliev successfully hanging on with a sizeable gap over third placed Croydon. “I was breathing UVio’s exhaust fumes for the whole stint,” Vlad reckoned.
Bradbury was then back in and after another safety car break, he was still a clear second when the green flag was waved and stayed in the car at the next stop to complete the second hour.
Vape had a clear 7.607 secs lead into the final hour over GRD, with Rare Viny a distant third, from FNS Morpheus, GCI, UVio, Greenheath and Demon Tweeks all on the lead lap, as Signature RV and Northern Velocity completed the top 10 a lap down.
GRD managed to have a spell back in front before the final stint But Vapeclub came in with a 3.390 secs lead over GRD as Bradbury handed back to Vassiliev. It was all looking good with over five seconds in hand over GRD’s Phillips, until they were forced to head for the pitlane to serve a track limits penalty. “When I was called in all sorts of things were going through my head,” said Vassiliev. “Gutted, I didn’t anticipate that,” Bradbury added.
So it was win number four for the season for GRD’s Dovell, Rudd and Phillips. “Simon had kept telling me to make sure I looked after the splitter and he lost it. I had nothing left at the end after Greenheath pitted and they had been towing me,” Phillips explained.
Vapeclub were still second but over 28 secs back, with Rare Vinyl a solid third. “The car was really good, faultless. It made such a difference just staying with everyone,” said Roche. “ A good grid draw, we both drove well and just stayed there, “Croydon added.
UVio Hofmann’s did finally change their splitter and were fourth. “It was a happyish ending but we changed the splitter too late, we shouldn’t have delayed it,” Farquini reckoned.
Fifth place was heading for Greenheath, “then I got a warning, it cut out and so I had to pit for fuel, couldn’t risk another lap,” Bate explained.
GCI and FNS Morpheus therefore completed the top six. “We couldn’t get our testing pace today, as we struggled for straightline speed,” said Butterworth. “We both behaved and we were in the battle today,” added FNS’s Perrott.
The Minshaw trio were seventh for Demon Tweeks, with Greenheath finally coming in eighth. Clapham North were ninth, “I had to short shift to protect the engine, so George did well to bring it home,” said Eaton.
Seed Data’s Devlin and Hogg rounded off the top 10 as we now look forward to Brands Hatch.
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, July 20th 2026
