FUN CUP ENDURANCE 2023 – ROUNDS THREE & FOUR – ANGLESEY
PREVIEW
OLYMPIAN LOOK FOR HATTRICK
It’s the annual into the night visit to Anglesey this weekend, with Team Olympian’s Chris Dovell, Kristian Rose and Riley Phillips currently unbeaten this season.
They currently have a 10 point lead over UVio Hofmann’s Farquini Deott and Fabio Randaccio, who have had two podiums too, third at Brands Hatch and Snetterton.
PLR’s Neil Plimmer and Ben Pitch are currently third in the Championship, they had a second at Brands, but came in sixth last time out.
Gary Bate and Paul Turner are seeking a maiden victory for Greenheath and will be after their first podium of the year, having had a best of fifth at Brands.
GT Radial are sixth in the standings, thanks to Ellis Hadley/Martin Gibson’s fourth at Brands. Former World Superbike Champion Sylvain Guintoli shared with Hadley last time out, but with neither Gibson nor Hadley available, it’s Toyota MR2 racers Aaron Cooke/Dan Silvester sharing.
The AxiaMetrics/GRD trio of Neil Burroughs/Simon Rudd/Chris Weatherill were welcome returnees this season, but need some good fortune to match their pace.
Two teams became one when Mark Holme and Colin Kingsnorth teamed up as Team Viking & Ursus Capital. They had problems at Brands, but came back fighting with a fourth at Snetterton.
Scott Jeffs is another returnee with MJ Tec. He will be hoping to banish any memories of last years night race, where his crash with Paul Ellis-Smith brought the race to a premature end. This weekend Jeffs has former MakeHappen racer Greg Evans sharing.
Vapeclub with EDF’s started the year with an eighth at Brands, but Vlad Vassiliev and Matt Dorkings had early problems at Snetterton, finishing well down the order.
Team mates at EDF Rob Croydon and Simon Coles have had spells at the sharp end this year already. Coles’ pace has increased since last season and matched with Croydon’s experience, they will be aiming for a top six too.
US visitor Victor Kara heads the third EDF car as usual, but has Adam Cunnington sharing this weekend, who is usually seen in his Lotus Cortina or a Citroen C1.
The Seed Data duo of Matt Hogg and Mike Devlin will be hoping for better luck too, after Hogg broke a driveshaft after being hit early on at Snetterton. Hogg was 10th at Brands sharing a JPR car, before debuting with Seed in the last round.
Fuelled Up Racing have nominated Paul and Wendy Ellis-Smith with Jamie Price, but don’t be surprised if Paul Taylor is there too. Their visit to Anglesey ended last year with the red flag, after Paul spun in the night race and was t-boned by Jeffs.
Joint sixth Steve Ruston and John Whitehouse are out again with Signature Motorhomes. The former GT Cup racers also did the C1 24hrs together at Silverstone and live across the road from each other.
Team 3 have their now usual trio of Andy Bennett, John Perrott and David Postins and its more of a duo than a gang in the James Gang car, with just Paul Calladine and Brandon James due to share.
Finally Snetterton debutants Jason Cheetham and Tom Greensall are back with easy2reach. Tom is a cousin of Fun Cup legend Nigel.
The weekend starts with night practice on Friday for 45 minutes from 22.10, before Saturday mornings qualifying at 9.30, again over 45 minutes.
The first of the two three-hour races is off at 12.50 and the second at 19.40, after short marshals tea break.
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, June 21st 2023
