FUN CUP ENDURANCE 2025 – OULTON PARK – FINAL ROUNDS REPORT
OLYMPIAN GRD TRIO TAKE THIRD SUCCESSIVE TITLE IN A DRAMATIC FINALE
An amazing 30 car grid lined up for the one-hour sprint race, with all of the title contenders towards the back half of the grid.
Pierre Renom was on pole, but as he tried to hold off Sherardize’s Teddy Wilson into a damp Old Hall, he spun and came back across the track as mayhem ensued.
Charlie Hart and Harry Mailer’s Morpheus cars were out, GCI’s Ian Wood, Seed Data’s Mike Devlin, Anglo Asian Mining’s Guido Basile, all out of action, while Ninky Nonks Neo Clarke joined them after being launched off the back of the Hart car. But miraculously John Perrott drove the three-wheeled AxiaMetrics car back to the pits, where the Morpheus crew not only repaired the car, but got it to the end of the pitlane for the restart.
From lights out Wilson had the lead, but was soon under attack from 2nd Choice’s Michael Lyons, who led into Lodge. They crossed the line to complete the first lap virtually side by side, from Rare Vinyl’s Rob Croydon, FF Corse’s Michael Broadhurst, Demon Tweeks’ Jason Minshaw and PLR’s Neil Plimmer.
The lead pair had broken clear by the end of lap two, but continued to lap inches apart, with Wilson back in front.
But Vapeclub’s Ted Bradbury had made rapid progress and took Croydon into Island on lap three for third place. Just a lap later he had the lead after the erstwhile lead pair had contact. “I was on Teddy’s bumper, he missed a gear and broke a driveshaft. I helped him a bit but it broke the radiator,” Lyons explained, as he limped pitwards and Wilson was out.
Riley Phillips had brought Olympian GRD up to second, with both Plimmer and Broadhurst demoting Croydon, while Greenheath’s Paul Turner had settled in sixth.
Third to eighth place had suddenly become one line, with UVio Hofmann’s Farquini doing his best to join them. But the first pit stop window was soon followed by a safety car intervention, with Fabulous Randaccio leading for UVio, from Olympian’s Simon Rudd after both dived ahead of Vapeclub’s Vlad Vassiliev into Old Hall from the green flag. Greenheath’s Gary Bate, FFS’s Barry Thompson and Rare Vinyl’s Joe Wiggin were the rest of the top six.
The lead pair were soon clear again, but Vassiliev was under pressure as it became a three- way fight for third. Thompson took Bate into Old Hall and Vassiliev at Cascades to lead the pursuit from lap 16, but Wiggin lost ground with a touch on the grass as he tried too, costing him a couple of places.
Although UVio made the final stop in the lead, Phillips made it out first. Farquini started to lose ground and second became a dual between Vapeclub’s Bradbury and FFS’s Lewis Thompson.
Thompson was into second at Old Hall on lap 22 and Phillips’ five second lead soon began to reduce. But Thompson’s charge almost had him off at Druids. Out of Lodge for the penultimate time he made his move for the lead and just nosed ahead exiting Deer Leap.
“Luck was with us, we avoided damage at the start and I nearly lost it three times on the last lap,” said Lewis, as they took their maiden victory by just 0.869 secs, with Bradbury snatching second on the final tour.
“I was trying to make it as difficult as possible for Riley,” Bradbury admitted. ”The bonus was we still beat UVio, but I couldn’t risk fighting too hard with the boys,” third placed Philips added.
A late charge from Marcus Clutton gave Signature RV fourth with Steve Ruston and John Whitehouse, leaving UVio in fifth.”I just wasn’t quick enough. We changed a few things, it suited Fab but not me,”Farquini explained.
Turner brought Greenheath home to complete the top six. “The car was great and I made a few nice moves too,” he reckoned. Julian Thomas was delighted to bring Racelogic home in seventh, “the car’s really good now and we were up there,” he added.
PLR’s Plimmer, Rare Vinyl’s Croydon and Team Pesky’s Alex Foden rounded off the top 10.
RACE 2
It was Jason Minshaw that led into Old Hall from the start, from Bate and Perrott. But Minshaw then ran wide, leaving Perrott to lead the opening lap for AxiaMetrics. Minshaw was still in second, from Greenheath’s Bate, PLR’s Tim Wheeldon, UVio’s Randaccio and iLockerz’s Ryan Slaney-Smith.
At the back though were Championship leaders Olympian GRD. “The car in front braked early, I avoided him but spun and was left facing the oncoming traffic, rejoining in last place,” said Chris Dovell.
Bradbury had completed the opening lap seventh, but exited Lodge for the second time in second, with Randaccio up to third place too as both began to challenge Perrott’s lead.
Bradbury led from lap three with Randaccio following a lap later, but the top three had built a decent gap over Minshaw, who was also under pressure from Ninky Nonks Matt Hyde. It was a four-car battle for sixth too with FF Corse’s Broadhurst, heading Wheeldon, rare Vinyl’s Croydon and Bate.
Hyde was fourth into Old Hall and started to gap Minshaw too, and after the first 30 minutes, Bradbury had pulled out a 6.952 secs lead over Randaccio, from Perrott, Hyde, Minshaw and Broadhurst.
The safety car was out though and the pitstop window opened, but the top four stayed out initially as almost everyone else pitted, then choosing to pit together four laps later.
Vassiliev rejoined with Vapeclub’s lead intact, but was soon under pressure from UVio’s Farquini, crossing the line side by side to complete the 21st lap, with Chris Weatherill in third for AxiaMetrics, followed by Olympian’s Rudd, Red River’s Johnny Mowlem and Ninky Nonks’ Tom Balfe.
Farquini went ahead into Old Hall leaving Vassiliev under attack from Rudd, after he had demoted Weatherill as the end of the first hour approached. Farquini had built a lead of 1.538 secs over Rudd now in second, and Weatherill had taken third from Vassiliev too. Mowlem had managed to consolidate fifth, with Lyons in sixth for 2nd Choice.
Greenheath’s Turner had retaken Rare Vinyl’s Wiggin for seventh, while PLR’s Plimmer and Demon Tweeks’ Guy Minshaw rounded off the top 10.
Rudd got closer and closer to the lead and aborted a challenge into Old Hall on lap 29. He then got ahead into Island, but Farquini retook at Shell, before he tried again and made it stick, just before the next pitstop window.
Rudd handed to Phillips, with Farquini pitting two laps later to hand back to Randaccio. “Our car was so much better after the set up changes,” said Farquini. Although Phillips then led for a couple of laps, Randaccio got by and at half distance was just 0.412 secs up on his rival. “I just had to stay close and look after the car, I didn’t want to push too hard,” Phillips explained.
Greg Evans was running solo in third for AxiaMetrics, while Vassiliev was fourth having double stinted, from Greenheath’s Bate and Red River’s Bonamy Grimes.
UVio lost out at the next stop, which by the end of two hours gave Rudd a 20 secs lead. Although Vapeclub were still third they had issues. “It was an electrical problem. Something was overheating and it started to cut out, so we short shifted to protect it,” Vassiliev explained.
There was little to split Perrott and Mowlem for fifth, while sixth place Turner was under pressure from FFS’s Barry Thompson.
With light beginning to fail some teams decided to change their driver order in case the finish was called early. With 30 minutes on the clock Phillips had a 13.44 second lead over Randaccio, with Vassiliev, Weatherell, Bate and Signature RV’s Clutton the top six, with Red River losing out with a fuel feed issue.
There was one more stop and Olympian GRD decided to keep Phillips in for a double stint, which proved a good decision as the race was stopped 14 minutes early. Olympian were both race winners and Champions again. “Euphoric, a fourth Championship,” said Dovell. “It was in our hands, we had good stops and drove well,” Rudd added.” We drove well all season and it was good to win the last race, but would have been nicer to finish on a chequered flag not a red,” said Phillips.
The final winning margin was just over nine seconds, as UVio Hofmanns sealed second in the Championship. “The car was great, good all day and our chances had been pretty good. But Olympian got a big break at one of the stops and a decisive lead,” said Randaccio.
Bradbury and Vassiliev held onto third, with Signature RV’s Ruston, Whitehouse ad Clutton fourth, and AxiaMetrics Perrott, Weatherell and Evans fifth, while Greenheath’s Bate and Turner completed the top six.
Team FFS were a lap down in seventh, with Rare Vinyl, PLR and the battled scarred Ninky Nonk rounding off the final top 10.
Despite slipping to 12th in the closing laps, Red River still did enough to clinch the Masters title. “Really chuffed with that, a real achievement,” said Gareth Williams.
https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BRSCC/2025/254332fun.pdf
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, October 27th 2025
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