HONOURS EVEN BETWEEN UVIO HOFMANN AND GRD, AS THEY SHARE THE VICTORY SPOILS
A RECORD GRID, plenty of drama and action but double the racing, as Fun Cup once again starred at the picturesque Anglesey circuit.
It may have been a three-hour race but Fabulous Randaccio was on the attack from the opening lap, giving UVio Hofmann’s the lead over GCi’s Ian Wood at Rocket on the opening lap.
He wasn’t the only one though, as RBR Rare Vinyl’s Will Blackwell-Chambers had already picked off Racelogic’s Julian Thomas at Church, before taking Wood into Rocket on lap four.
The top six had made an early break, with Randaccio, heading Blackwell-Chambers, Tropical Rocket’s Neo Clarke, Wood, Thomas and AxiaMetrics Chris Weatherill, but Championship leaders and defending champions GRD were off at the Banking. “I went off avoiding a collision in front of me, but it took the splitter off,” Chris Dovell explained.
Once Abbie Eaton had broken into the top 10 for Clapham North, she soon latched on to sixth placed Weatherill and after he ran wide at the final turn on two consecutive laps, she was through, before catching Thomas and Wood into Rocket four laps later for fourth.
While the lead trio were settled, Eaton then came under pressure herself from Track Focused’s Sean Cooper, after he had taken Wood at Rockett.
GCi were the first to stop, with the majority leaving it to the end of the window. But once the stops were completed, the top three were back in the same order, with Farquini leading for UVio Hofmanns, from Rare Vinyl’s James Reilly and Tropical Rocket’s Josh Phelps, but GCI’s Craig Butterworth was closing in too and was into third on lap 38.
“It was quite a calm stint, the car was working well, I looked after the tyres and it was a nice clean stint,” Randaccio explained, as the UVio pair had swapped their usual chassis for the PLR one.
“I was catching Fabulous briefly, but I think I overcooked my tyres as they managed their’s better,” said Blackwell-Chambers. “I lost out a bit at the start and by the time I got through, the leaders had gone,” Clarke admitted.
At the end of the first hour Farquini was over nine seconds clear of Reilly, with Butterworth, Phelps, Sherardize’s Matt Hyde and AxiaMetrics’ John Perrott the rest of the top six.
The second pitstop window soon arrived, with Randaccio back in for the leaders, while Tom Roche resumed in second for Rare Vinyl. But Sherardize had benefitted at the stops and Belshaw was into third, followed by Leightec’s Shay Brennan, Clarke and Vapeclub EDF’s Ted Bradbury.
Bradbury became the one to watch as the top four held station up to the next stop. Apart from UVio, the rest of the top seven all pitted together on lap 75.
As they approached the final hour though the top five were still on the lead lap, with UVio having led every lap, while Rare Vinyl retained second. In third Vlad Vassiliev was doing a sterling job before handing back to Bradbury, to conclude with a double stint, but Sherardize and Tropical Rocket were still in touch too.
While Randaccio and Farquini took a dominant win, leading all 132 laps, it ended in disappointment for Rare Vinyl, when they were stranded when the distributor failed as Blackwell-Chambers prepared to make his final stop.
“The late safety car didn’t bother me, but I knew Ted would give it a go. But the new car maybe has a bit more bite in the slower corners,” said Randaccio. “Fab was just brilliant, but it was all smooth and no issues,” Farquini reckoned.
So Vapeclub came in second. “I had every car in the field between me and Fab at the safety car. Our strategy worked great though and Vlad did a mega job,” said Bradbury.
It was a strong race for Sherardize too and they were rewarded with third, after Hyde managed to oust Phelps at Rocket right at the end. “The tyres had gone so the late safety car helped me,” Hyde admitted.
So Tropical Rocket just missed out on the podium, “Matt got me and then I tried the outside line to get him, but couldn’t hold on,” said Phelps.
Signature RV’s John Whitehouse, Steve Ruston and Marcus Clutton finished strongly, to edge out GCI for fifth. “We got a penalty for an unsafe release, but the car was a bit loose, but a good result in the Masters for us,” said Clutton. “We had lost time in an earlier pitstop, so were playing catch up,” Wood added.
Red River Sport had an interesting race with their three drivers Johny Mowlem, Bonamy Grimes and Gareth Williams sharing two different cars. While one was an early casualty, Mowlem brought the second home in seventh.
Greenheath were next home despite a disastrous start, when Gary Bate pitted thinking he had a puncture and then got penalty for speeding in the pitlane. “Gary made it an interesting race, but we never gave up,” said Paul Turner.
Leightec and Clapham North rounded off the top 10. The former had looked set for a top six. “We started to lose some power, but happy with my first top 10,” said Brennan, while co-driver Kristan Rose also lost some time when someone nudged him off.
It was a first top 10 for Clapham North too, “absolutely delighted,” said George Grant after taking the flag.
Despite their dramas, the GRD trio of Dovell, Rudd and Philips still managed 11th and there ends another sequence for the Champions.
RACE TWO
At the start of the second race it was Track Focused’s Cooper and Sherardize’s Belshaw exchanging for the lead, before Sunoco’s Phil Keen took them both on lap three.
But Tropical Rocket’s Clarke soon closed up and took Belshaw for third into Rocket on lap five, before taking Cooper’s scalp too five laps later.
While Belshaw started to lose ground, he remained a sold fourth, well clear of Demon Tweeks 2’s Michael Lyons and GCI’s Wood, with Demon Tweeks’ Jason Minshaw closing. But Lyons and Wood did briefly swap at Rocket, before UVio’s Randaccio and Clapham North’s Eaton caught them.
Clarke continued to hunt down Keen’s lead and after going through School side by side on lap 13, it was Clarke with the lead into Rocket.
When the first pitstop window opened Track Focused were first in, with the rest of the top six all pitting together a lap later. Phelps emerged first with Farquini in second, from Rare Vinyl’s Reilly, Hyde, Sunoco’s Anders Hildebrand and GCI’s Butterworth, but the safety car was out and the race only went green for a couple of laps before the opening hour was completed.
Farquini, Reilly and Hyde all surged ahead of Phelps through Church following the green flag, but on the straight it was Reilly out in front, only for Hyde to seize the advantage a lap later into Rocket to complete the hour, 0.639 secs up on Reilly, closely followed by Farquini, Butterworth and Phelps, before gap to Hildebrand in sixth.
“I nailed that restart, but that Sherardize car was ridiculously fast and then I was in the tow with UVio,” said Reilly.
Simon Rudd had brought GRD into contention and when the top five pitted again together, he stayed out and allowed the team to retain the lead after handing to Dovell. “Better than race one by far and fine so far,” Rudd added.
GRD had found their feet again, but Sherardize, UVio, Rare Vinyl, GCI and Vapeclub were all the pace too, with the top 11 still on the lead lap when the second hour was completed. Rare Vinyl were just over a second up on Vapeclub, but once again Bradbury was double stinting at the end. Sherardize were still fourth but under threat, with Rudd in for the penultimate stint and Phillips to finish.
GCI had AxiaMetrics in their wheel tracks for sixth, while Signature RV and Greenheath followed, with Sunoco losing touch in 10th.
GRD, Vapeclub, UVio, Rare Vinyl and Sherardize all had the scent of victory still, but Rudd was leading the way despite the pressure. But Bradbury led from the last stop, he had damaged his cars rear coner though and allowed Phillips through for GRD to return them to winning ways. “Happy now, I could see the battle for second still at times though,” said Phillips.
Bradbury did his best hold on to second but ran wide and Farquini was through, “I knew if I could catch Ted I had a chance, as he’s polite and gave me space,” said Farquini. “My rear tyre was destroyed and the rear corner, after I hit a kerb really, my own fault. I thought I was going to lose the wheel and really didn’t expect to finish,” Bradbury replied. “That was a much harder race than the first,” Randaccio added.
Sherardize took third after easing away Rare Vinyl, “our car felt strong all day,” said Hyde.
Signature had another strong race too to complete the top six, while Greenheath, AxiaMetrics, Track Focused and Sunoco were a lap down and rounded off the top 10.
Now it’s time to draw breath again, with Donington next on the calendar, with another double header of one and three hour races.
https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BRSCC/2026/262431fun.pdf
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, June 15th 2026
