FUN CUP ENDURANCE – ROUNDS SIX & SEVEN – ANGLESEY – PREVIEW
At last GCI Racing’s Craig Butterworth and Ian Wood claimed their elusive maiden victory at Snetterton and head to Anglesey for this weekend’s double-header with a 20 point lead over Stobart Sport’s Richard Webb and Jonathan Hoad, with Colin Kingsnorth absent again.
Stobart have had two wins, Oulton and Brands Hatch and have a 20 point cushion over Team Viking’s Mark Holme and Nick Nunn, who are still seeking their first win of the year, but have had podiums in two of the last three races.
Vapeclub with EDF had a season’s best fourth at Croft with Vlad Vassiliev and Mat Dorkings continuing to improve and PLR have managed to balance success with misfortune this season, as Neil Plimmer and Ben Pitch lie fifth in the Championship, after a third at Brands Hatch.
Defending Champions UVio/Hofmann’s Lotus have won twice, but had drama’s in every other round when showing continuing dominance. If the car runs OK it’s hard to see Farquini Deott and Fabio Randaccio being beaten.
Former Champions Team Olympian started with a third place at Silverstone, but haven’t visited the podium since. At both Brands and Snetterton they were fifth, but this weekend welcome Riley Phillips back to join Chris Dovell and Kristian Rose for the first time this season, having previously run with Kaizen Motorsport.
After missing the previous couple of rounds Gary Bate was back with his Greenheath car at Snetterton, taking fourth with new team mate Paul Turner.
Turner had previously raced for Agua Caliente this season and in the opening rounds Jonathan Mitchell shared with Bate.
MJ Tec Giti are top of the table for patience and perseverance, but so far, apart from a fourth at Brands Hatch, they have been bottom for good luck.
When on song Martin Gibson and Scott Jeffs are regular frontrunners. They took eighth at Oulton and Snetterton, but haven’t made the top 10 in the rest, usually after late problems.
Track Focused made their seasonal debut at Brands Hatch with a 10th place, as Teddy Wilson shared with regulars Neil Smith and Mike McCollum. Sean Cooper shared with McCollum at a problematical Snetterton. But with Cooper busy running his Radical’s at Oulton Park, Wilson steps in again with Smith and McCollum.
At Apollo Motorsport it’s just John Goodwin and Stuart Ramsay this weekend. After two 11th place finishers, they are seeking their first top 10 of the year.
RAW Motorsports are back to a two-car team for the first time since Croft, as Alex Macleod and Paul Rivett return for probably the last time in the Tachosys car.
The Fuelled Up Racing team will welcome Wendy Ellis-Smith back from her GT Radial foray at Snetterton. It’s expected that Paul Taylor and Jamie Price will share as Paul “Black Knight” Ellis-Smith was due to have a shoulder operation after a jousting injury.
We Have No Idea have the regular trio of Paul Calladine, Alan Baldwin and Brandon James, but they are also running the debuting James Gang, with Brandon’s sons Lewis, Harvey and Derrin.
Simon Coles and Victor Kara had a season’s best ninth at Croft in the second EDF car, while it’s welcome back to Steve Peat who rejoins Ellis Hadley this weekend for GT Radial.
There is another debutant team as Team 3 Motorsport field Andy Bennett, Mark Snow and John Perrott, while it’s a welcome back to AxiaMetrics, as Chris Weatherill and Nigel Griffiths make their seasonal debuts and Scott Parkin shares.
Weatherill and Griffiths have already tasted success in the dark at Anglesey this season, when Kristian Rose joined them in winning the Enduroka 24 hours.
Night qualifying is on Friday evening from 22.15 to 23.00, with the daytime session at 9.00 until 9.45 on Saturday.
Both races are on Saturday at 13.10 and 20.00, both over three hours.
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, August 10th 2022
