FUN CUP ENDURANCE 2026 – ROUND 9 & 10 – OULTON PARK – RACE REPORT
DOUBLE WIN AT OULTON FINALE SEALS TITLE FOR GRD…… AND IT’S FOUR IN A ROW!!
Team GRD’s Simon Rudd, Riley Phillips and Chris Dovell arrived at Oulton Park as Championship leaders, and with wins in both the Sprint and Endurance races they left as Champions for the fourth successive year.
Phillips started the sprint from pole for GRD and quickly began to ease clear of a five-car train for second, with Racelogic’s Julian Thomas under pressure from Viking’s Mark Holme, Bounty Hunters’ Ethan Carney, RBR’s James Reilly and Clapham North’s Abbie Eaton, until Reilly went off at Cascades.
Eaton was on charge though and having taken Carney, she was fourth by lap five, but AxiaMetrics’ Shay Brennan and Vapeclub’s Ted Bradbury were closing in too. “It got a bit wild at times,” Brennan admitted.
Bradbury was fourth into Lodge on lap six and by the end of the next lap was into second and setting his sights on Phillips’ lead. But they both pitted together at the start of the first pitstop window, which briefly gave Rare Vinyl’s Tom Roche the lead until he pitted too. Thomas was still in second, but the pressure was off as Holme had spun off at Shell.
With the first stops completed it was Rudd leading for GRD from Vapeclub’s Vlad Vassilev, while UVio Hofmann’s Fabulous Randaccio headed AxiaMetrics’ Will Smith for third, as they both demoted Eaton.
“The plan was always to come in early but to make sure I did my minimum time,” said Vassiliev.
Both Rudd and Vassiliev pitted early again, but the chase was on in the final laps and the gap came down and down. Phillips just held on as Bradbury was poised to challenge, taking the flag just 0.557 secs apart. “It was controlled victory,” Rudd reckoned.
Third place went right the flag too with UVio’s Farquini, Signature RV’s Steve Ruston, GCI’s Craig Butterworth, AxiaMetrics’ Chris Weatherill and Sherardize’s Teddy Wilson all in with a shout.
GCI then had a driveshaft break with a couple of laps to go and were almost hit by Wilson. “It went so quickly I just needed to park up,” Butterworth explained. But it was the Sherardize driver that sealed the place, from UVio Hofmanns, with Greenheath’s Gary Bate claiming a late fifth as Signature RV completed the top six.
“We were a sitting duck after damaging the splitter on the first lap,” said Randaccio. “Paul was just super, we both made our way up the order and the car was great,” Bate added.
“There was a little bit of battle contact, but it was mainly about making the pitstops work,” said Wilson.
RACE TWO
Mike Devlin started from pole for Seed Data and held the lead through the first corner, before a big sort out as they charged down the Avenue. Greenheath’s Bate then led before Jason Minshaw surged ahead, but the Demon Tweeks car was off at Shell, almost rolled and brought out the safety car.
Eaton was the new leader for Clapham North, with Track Focused’s Sean Cooper ousting Bate for second, until Tropical Rocket’s Neo Clarke passed them all and led into Old Hall on lap 14.
Eaton was still in second, from Cooper, Bate, UVio’s Farquini and Devlin, but Vapeclub had lost ground when Vassiliev spun with a sticking throttle.
Eaton retook the lead at Old Hall a lap later, before Clarke got through again into Island. Cooper then started to press for second and made his challenge at Lodge. The lost momentum however allowed Farquini to split them as they headed through Deer Leap.
Cooper and Bate were the first of the frontrunners to make their first stop, with the majority following three laps later.
RBR’s Jason Baker took the lead from Tropical Rocket’s Josh Phelps at Old Hall shortly into the second stint, but as the first hour was completed, just 0.263 secs split them, with Greenheath’s Turner in third, after both he and UVio’s Randaccio demoted Clapham North’s George Grant. But back up to sixth was Bradbury, bringing Vapeclub back into contention.
It only took four laps for Bradbury to go from fifth to lead into Old Hall, which then left a great battle for second between Phelps and Baker again, with Greenheath and UVio close too.
Phelps made a challenge into Druids on lap 37, but lost ground and exited fourth, while a lap later Randaccio was second into Lodge, as Turner made it a four-car train for second, with Marcus Clutton closing too for Signature RV.
Following the second stop the order began to settle a little as we approached half distance, with Vapeclub over 30 secs clear of the dual for second between AxiaMetrics and UVio, with RBR and Tropical Rocket duelling for fifth too.
“Our plan was to stay in clean air, not lose time and keep safe, but then I spun with the throttle sticking,” said Vassiliev.
But the throttle issue proved decisive when Bradbury crashed out at Clay Hill other 64th lap. “The throttle stuck wide open through Knickerbrook and the chicane, I couldn’t to anything,” he admitted.
Tropical Rockets hopes of a podium finish were dashed too. “We were up there and then the fuel pump went as were ready to make our stop,” said Phelps.
Two laps behind the safety car followed while cars were recovered, going green on lap 67 with Brennan in front for AxiaMetrics, closely followed by UVio’s Farquini, but now in third was GRD’s Phillips.
With UVio pitting for a penalty, it was nose to tail for the lead on lap 70, with Brennan just holding on. After running side by side along Lakeside, Phillips was through at Island, but Brennan stuck right to his rear bumper.
“I had to work hard with Shay, but I had given him advice during the season,” said Phillips. I led but could see Riley coming, he was a bit quick so I had to defend. We worked together and got away, then 
I sat behind, it was good,” Brennan replied.
GCI’s Butterworth was now chasing Greenheath’s Turner for third, while Wilson was fifth for Sherardize, with Viking’s Mark Holme completing the top six.
“We had a power problem all day, it didn’t show as much in testing and qualifying, but when the track dried out we felt it,” Wilson explained.
UVio had already dropped down the order and had to pit again after contact left them with a rear puncture. GRD also made their penultimate stop early too. “Shay got me back when I had a fuel issue and it started to stutter, so we came into check it,” Phillips added.
Three hours in and Rudd had an 8.371s secs lead over AxiaMetrics Will Smith, with Sherardize’s Peter Belshaw still in third, from Team Viking’s Colin Kingsnorth, FFS’s Lewis Thompson and GCI’s Ian Wood, but it had already been announced that the race would end early in the failing light.
GRD came in early again from the lead for Rudd to hand to Phillips, but it had been close as both AxiaMetrics and FFS were in contention too. It all went wrong for FFS though as they pitted from the lead for Lewis Thompson to hand to father Barry. They were delayed rejoining and then ran out fuel, which left Sherardize in second from AxiaMetrics, while behind them it was a mighty battle for fourth.
With just a handful of laps left Phillips sealed the victory with 8.894 secs to spare over Wilson, while Weatherill was a solid third for AxiaMetrics. “Fantastic, we know it was hard but the podium feels great,” said Weatherill.
“Perfect,” Phillips reckoned. Teamwork, all the team in different ways but working collectively to be the best again,” said Dovell. “Consistency has been the key,” Rudd concluded.
Holme managed to break from the late battle to consolidate fourth for Viking, while Bate just held off Butterworth and Racelogic’s Julian Thomas for fifth.
Having led earlier Rob Bostons trio of Blackwell-Chambers, Baker and Reilly were eighth, and the top 10 was completed by Signature RV’s Whitehouse, Ruston and Clutton and Bounty Hunters Carney and Smith.
It’s all over for another year, but 17th April Donington Park, we do it all over again.
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, October 19th 2026
