FUN CUP ENDURANCE – ROUNDS SIX & SEVEN – ANGLESEY – REPORT
UVIO HOFMANN’S DUO BACK TO CHAMPIONSHIP FORM!
It was a 20-car grid for this years annual trip to Anglesey for the double-header into the night races.
Temperatures were still climbing to 30+ as the first race got under way, with Fabio Randaccio soon into a growing lead.
“I led for the first few yards though,” said AxiaMetrics Chris Weatherill on his return to Fun Cup racing. Weatherill held onto second until lap eight when Teddy Wilson took the Track Focused car by, behind them GT Radial’s Steve Peat had a gap to Apollo’s John Goodwin and Team Viking’s Mark Holme.
Holme started to challenge Goodwin and got by after 14 laps, but suddenly, apart from UVio it all closed up again, with Wilson notably absent. “As I came out of Rocket I had no steering, it had broken but I managed to park it without hitting anything,” he explained.
Holme had continued his charge and had just taken Peat for third at Banking when the safety car came out.
From the green flag Holme jumped Weatherill too, with MJ Tec’s Martin Gibson making ground into third by lap 22. But the safety car was out again when Paul Ellis-Smith had a hub failure on the Fuelled Up car, which coincided with the first pitstop window.
With driver changes completed and the race green again, the completion of the first hour arrived with Farquini 3.342 secs up for UVio/Hofmanns, from Stobart Sports Jonathan Hoad, Olympian’s Kristian Rose, Viking’s Nick Nunn, GCI’s Craig Butterworth and GT Radial’s Ellis Hadley.
With Hoad chipping away at the lead, Farquini was noticeably pushing harder. “Fabio had a cushion, I had to get away from them again,” Farquini explained.
“I couldn’t hold off Jonathan and Kristian when they filled my mirrors, so maybe I overdrove a bit,” Nunn admitted.
The strength of competition continued to show in the top six, but it continued to be the Randaccio/Farquini combination to the fore.
Randaccio had a terrific duel with Olympian’s Riley Phillips, as both shared the lead. “We were having a nice time and I knew I could trust Riley,” said Randaccio. “Lots of side by side but I kept outbraking myself at Rocket, but there was no contact,” Phillips replied.
Stobart’s lost some time with a penalty for an unsafe release, but Richard Webb/Hoad were still in third behind GCI’s Butterworth/Ian Wood after two hours.
MJ Tec’s Scott Jeffs/Gibson, Viking’s Holme/Nunn and Greenheath’s Gary Bate/Paul Turner the rest of the top six.
Olympian were out of the running though when Chris Dovell pitted with a wire off the alternator, but at the front there was just no stopping UVio/Hofmann’s.
Stobart’s were next to hit trouble when they broke a driveshaft and with 30 minutes on the clock the safety car was out again, prompting another mass pitstop.
The top five were on the lead lap but Farquini managed to defend his winning margin of 3.58 secs. Viking had been second, but it was any one from them, MJ Tec and GCI for second place. “The key moment for me is when we take the flag, but we had to look after the car more in the heat, the tyres were melting like chewing gum,” said Randaccio after they had led 111 of the 118 laps!
Jeffs made it into second after 105 laps, but there was contact at the Corkscrew two laps from home. Nunn had clipped Butterworth who then spun, so Jeffs made it home a clear second, with Viking third on the road.
Nunn was given a post-race penalty, dropping Viking to fifth and handing Greenheath the final podium place.
GCI’s recovery saw them classified fourth after Nunn’s penalty and in sixth PLR’s Neil Plimmer/Ben Pitch had managed to somehow gain three places at the last stop to net sixth.
GT Radial were seventh and EDF’s Simon Coles/Victor Kara, with Team 3 Motorsports Andy Bennett/John Perrott/Mark Snow ninth in their first ever race. Apollo’s Goodwin/Stuart Ramsay completed the top 10.
The temperature had started to cool as the grid assembled for the second race and fortunately there had been no casualties from race one.
Wilson was able to show his pace from the start and led for the whole of his 31 lap stint. “It was all good,” he started.
Webb had been a strong second for Stobart’s, but began to fade towards the end of his stint and started to lose places, as Tachosys EDF’s Paul Rivett and EDF’s Simon Coles had an entertaining duel.
Farquini eased his way up to fourth and Viking’s Nunn had also ousted Webb before the pitstop window opened.
One hour down and the sun was setting as the top 10 had a familiar look to it. Although Mike McCollum had retained the lead for Track Focused for another eight laps, he finally gave best to UVio/Hofmanns Randaccio.
Stobart Sport were once again in a podium place, followed by Viking, Greenheath and PLR. MJ Tec, GCI, EDF and Olympian were the rest of the top 10.
“I was able to catch Viking, but Mark drove well and I just couldn’t get him,” said Greenheath’s Turner. There were dramas for Championship leaders GCI though, when another car on their outside decided to pit and forced them down the pitlane too!
With Neil Smith in for Track Focused they were still second at halfway, despite Webb and Nunn threatening. Bate and Gibson were in contention too and the darkness was soon to play a major part.
UVio/Hofmann’s, Stobart’s and MJ Tec were the only teams on the lead lap after two hours, but Greenheath, Viking and PLR all had their sights on a podium still.
There was another pitstop window approaching when on lap 90 Paul Ellis-Smith had spun exiting the Bus Stop. He was stalled across the track when the unsighted Jeffs in the third placed MJ Tec car appeared and hit the stationery car hard. Both drivers were able to walk away, but after a couple of safety car laps and pitstops the race was red flagged 48 minutes early.
So UVio/Hofmann’s made it their fourth win of the year, with Stobart’s in second. It looked as if Viking would take third, but after final stops and count backs etc, it was Greenheath completing the podium, with Viking fourth.
Olympian and Track Focused rounded off the top six, as GCI, PLR Vapeclub EDF and EDF 104 were the rest of the top 10.
https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BRSCC/2022/223231fun.pdf
The next and penultimate round of the Championship is at Donington Park on September 24th.
