FUN CUP ENDURANCE 2025 – ROUND TWO– OULTON PARK – PREVIEW
Defending Champions Team Olympian GRD were back on the top step of the podium at Brands Hatch in the opening round of the Fun Cup Endurance Championship, but now they return to Oulton Park, the scene of their title clinching win last October.
Chris Dovell, Simon Rudd and Riley Phillips might have it a little tougher starting the back of the 28 car grid, with plenty of takers seeking to steal their crown.
Former Champion UVio Hofmanns were second at Brands, and keen to get a win under their belt, having gone winless in 2024. Farquini Deott/Fabulous Randaccio are probably the slickest in the drivers changes and races can often be won and lost in the pitlane.
Charlie Hart came close to taking the £10,000 first time winner prize last season, when sharing in the finale with BTCC Champion Jake Hill. They finished second in both the sprint and endurance races. Charlie is now racing GT4 in Europe but returns this weekend to share the Morpheus Motorsport car with Dad Chris, another former Champion.
Hart’s former GT Cup partner Stephen Walton is in a second Morpheus car, but he is yet to announce who will be sharing with him.
Back in 2022 GCI Racing’s Craig Butterworth/Ian Wood took the title. They haven’t contested the Championship fully since, but when they do they can never be discounted.
Julian Thomas’s Racelogic team won four consecutive titles, with the last in 2015. He is now a frontrunner on the Classic and Historic racing scene, with occasional Fun Cup returns.
This weekend his regular co-driver David Denyer is absent, replaced by Jonathan Hoad, a Fun Cup winner with Trumans and Team Viking.
Neil Plimmer is a multiple Champion too and has raced in Fun Cup since it began in the UK. He has had a number of co drivers over the years, but for the last few seasons he has formed a strong partnership with Ben Pitch, bringing success overall and in the Masters Trophy.
For a couple of years Peter Belshaw and Marcus Clutton were regular winners for Sherardize Uk. While Clutton’s career has blossomed as he’s become one of the top British GT drivers, he now shares the Signature RV car with Steve Ruston and John Whitehouse and have been race winners too.
Belshaw returned to racing after a few years off in last years finale, but has come back this year with Teddy Wilson sharing. Wilson previously raced one-off in the Fun Cup with Track Focused and Team Viking.
AxiaMetrics spent most of last season thinking of what might have been, but finally it all came good at Brands Hatch for Chris Weatherill, who is joined this year by Greg Evans and former rallyman John Perrott, taking third. They will be keen for a repeat of even better!
There are three father and son teams on the grid this weekend too. Caterham Champion Lewis Thompson and fellow Caterham racer and father Barry only just missed the podium at Brands, taking fourth, after debuting last season with Team FFS. This time Nick Highton is back in the car as they chase that podium position.
But a British GT front runner for the last few seasons, Shaun Balfe decided to make the switch to Fun Cup this season, sharing with son Tom at Balfe Motorsport, himself a Ginetta Academy race winner.
The third is ex Formula Renault racer Pierre Renom, who returned from a lengthy lay-off at Brands Hatch, to share with son Andre.
Team Greenheath and Vapeclub with EDF are both seeking their first win. Greenheath’s Gary Bate/Paul Turner were set for a top finish at Brands until the throttle cable snapped, but Vapeclub’s Vlad Vassiliev now has Ted Bradbury sharing, a proven race winer at Oulton.
Red River Sport’s Gareth Williams shares with his mentor Johnny Mowlem again, they were sixth at Brands and Seed Data’s Mike Devlin/Matt Hogg will be looking for good fortune too, which doesn’t always follow them.
The famous Demon Tweeks name is on two cars this season, with brothers Jason and Guy Minshaw sharing the first, and Mark Burton, Graham Pattle and Tom Pattle in the second. Jason shared with Burton a number of times last year.
Bike racer Jonathan Railton was with AxiaMetrics last season, but now runs his own team B.E.R.T. He has fellow biker Angus Gough sharing, but they proved to be early casualties at Brands on the teams debut.
Former Caterham racer Matt Larbey has joined forces with experienced Fun Cupper Rob Croydon at Rare Vinyl and former Fun Cup racers Steve Lake and Tim Wheeldon return with Ryan Stanley-Smith this weekend, as Team Disruptive. Lake is now more regularly seen in British GT with his Mahiki Racing Lotus’s.
City Car Cup racers Stuart and Richard Bliss, Dominic Fletcher and Bob Bannister should be back too, after their premature retirement when Richard crashed heavily at Brands and 22GT Racing make their seasonal debut with Nathan Harison, Martin Davies, Chris and Mika Brown.
Patrik Potocki joins Simon Lidzen in the Fast Track car, Lidzen was ninth in the first round. FF Corse have debutants Ian Smith/Andrea Seminara and Garry Summers has Darren Brown sharing with him again.
Finally car 210 is also entered but both the team name and driver line-up are yet to be confirmed.
Qualifying is on Saturday morning at 9.45 for 45 minutes, with a grid walk during the lunch break, before it’s lights out for the four hour race at 12.45.
It can all be followed too on the Fun Cup website livestream.
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, May 2025
To find out more about the Fun Cup Endurance Championship visit www.funcup.co.uk for more information and how to get involved.
To view the championship calendar, visit https://funcup.co.uk/events/ for more information.
