FUN CUP ENDURANCE 2026 – ROUND TWO – SNETTERTON – RACE REPORT
IT’S THAT GRD TRIO AGAIN, BUT UVIO LOSE SECOND ON TECHNICALITY
Celebrating it’s 25th anniversary Fun Cup once again ticked all the boxes for action an entertainment in the second round of the championship at Snetterton.
In the charge down to Wilson Hairpin on the opening lap of the four-hour race, Clapham North’s Abbie Eaton took the lead from Red River’s Gareth Williams, with Demon Tweeks 2’s Steve Roberts under pressure from UVio Hofmann’s Farquini for third.
After a number of exchanges Farquini not only shook off Roberts, but ousted Williams too into Riches on lap three, with Roberts following at Wilson, as Eaton’s lead was already over three seconds.
As Williams continued to slip down the order Will Blackwell-Chambers shot up to third for Rob Boston Racing, but Roberts, Northern Velocity’s Jack Harding, Track Focused’s Sean Cooper and Ninky Nonk’s Mikey Porter were chasing too.
Porter had to make an early stop for a rear puncture and AxiaMatrics Chris Weatherill’s soon followed, but the top three were well clear, with Blackwell-Chambers keeping the pressure on second placed Farquini.
Blackwell-Chambers snatched second into Riches on lap eight, but a lap later Farquini took it back, while behind them the duelling Cooper and Harding had both taken Roberts too.
There was plenty of action further back, with a three-car battle for seventh, as FNS Morpheus’ Neo Clarke was hunted down by GRD’s Simon Rudd and Red River’s Wiliams.
Rudd’s advance continued and on lap 13 was into the top six, having outrun Roberts down the Bentley Straight, with Clarke following a couple of laps later.
Cooper and Harding swapped a couple of times too, which allowed Rudd to reel them in, to take fourth on lap 23. But it was also closing up at the front, as Farquini and Blackwell-Chambers started to make inroads on Eaton’s lead.
All three were nose to tail down the Bentley Straight, with Farquini ahead through Nelson, only for Eaton to retake at the same spot a lap later.
Rudd’s progress had faltered though, as he had been unable to shake off the dueling Harding and Cooper and briefly lost out to them both, before retaking fourth as the first pitstop window approached.
The lead swapped again before the stops, but UVio were first in for Fabulous Randaccio to take over, while Eaton and Rudd stayed out until the end of the window, handing to George Grant and Chris Dovell respectively.
“That was all kinds of racing, I fought against myself when I got away, made sure I made no mistakes and then it all closed up,” said Eaton. “Will and I had a few hand signals on the back straight to work together, but Abbie got a great start, “Farquini replied. “I had good communication with Farquini and just pushed forward and gave it go,” Blackwell-Chambers added.
Seven laps after the stop the first hour was completed, with Randaccio 34 seconds clear of Dovell, before another 10 second gap to James Reilly, who had taken over from Blackwell-Chambers.
Grant was still fourth, from FNS Morpheus’ Greg Evans, Northern Velocity’s Alan Henderson and Red River’s Johnny Mowlem, before the latter received a stop-go penalty for pitlane speeding.
But the one to watch was Ted Bradbury, guesting in the PLR car. Taking over from Neil Plimmer in 13th place he took second from Dovell into Nelson on lap 51 and had been followed through the order by GCI’s Craig Butterworth, with Dovell slipping to seventh before the next stops.
The lead pair pitted together and UVio managed to retain their lead, but were just 10 secs up on GCi’s Ian Wood, who then lost out to Clarke and Riley Phillips who had taken over for GRD, after they passed Northern Velocity’s Daniel Irving.
By lap 70 only three cars were on the lead lap, but Eaton then managed to unlap herself, after ousting Mowlem and Irving, taking fourth at Nelson.
Farquini’s lead had grown and grown during the third stint and at the halfway stage he was 1m12.024 secs clead Phillips, who still had Clarke hanging on in third.
Eaton was still on the lead lap in fourth, with Mowlem and Wood completing the top six. James Baker was in seventh for RBR, while Irving, Demon Tweeks’ Jack Minshaw and PLR’s Tim Wheeldon rounded off the top 10.
Barely had the third hour started and the safety car was called into action for the first time, after Racelogic’s David Denyer was off. Most crews pitted at the first opportunity, but it was eight laps before it was green again, during which time Williams had to pit again after alternator issues on the Red River car.
Grant then lost a couple of places to Butterworth and Greenheath’s Gary Bate, after they had swapped too and RBR’s James Reilly followed into sixth.
Chris Bridle then joined in the fight for fifth for AxiaMatrics, swapping with Reilly a couple of times, before disaster struck Evans in the second placed FNS Morpheus car, when he was forced to pull off with a broken driveshaft.
The safety car was in action again for the recovery and having unlapped himself a few laps earlier, Butterworth now had the GCI car in the podium places. “I didn’t think I had much chance of unlapping against UVio, but I had the pace, did it and the safety car helped,” he explained.
There was only a couple of laps again before the penultimate pitstop window, with Dovell pitting from second to hand back to Rudd at the first opportunity.
Once again UVio held the lead and completed the third hour with a 7.977 secs lead over GRD. GCI were still hanging on in third, while Northern Velocity had consolidated fourth, Bradbury was fifth for PLR with Seed Data’s Matt Hogg and Mike Devlin finishing strongly having come out on top of a dual with Demon Tweeks for sixth.
“I had tried to be cautious early on and avoid damage, then we seemed to pick up more pace, were consistent and had a great race with Jason,” said Devlin.
There were still plenty of battles to be won and lost, notably for eighth, where Track Focused’s Cooper was fighting with Greenheath’s Paul Turner and Race Vinyl’s Rob Croydon and RBR’s Baker. “Our car was great but seemed to lack a bit of bottom end power,” said Turner.
The top six held station until we came tom the final stop, with Rudd and Wood both pitting early from second and third, while UVio and PLR left it to the last minute. “We had been nearly a lap own, but we changed our usual driver order and it worked,” said Rudd.
UVio once again managed to rejoin with the lead intact, but Phillips was just 0.198 secs behind for GRD, with GCI’s Butterworth still on the lead lap, while Northern Velocity’s Harding and Greenheath’s Bate retained fourth and fifth, leaving Seed Data’s Hogg and Demon Tweeks’ Jack Minshaw to fight for sixth.
On lap 140 Phillips grabbed the lead into Nelson, but Randaccio took it back a lap later, but Bate had got clear in fifth as Minshaw, Hogg and Track Focused’s Mike McCollum battled on.
Just to add to the lead challenge they became embroiled with Signature RV’s Marcus Clutton too, who was trying to unlap himself.
Into Riches on lap 144 it was Randaccio ahead again, but Phillips almost lost it with a touch on the grass at Wilson, before taking the lead back at Brundle.
From thereon Phillips eased away, with Randaccio struggling for pace exiting Murrays. At the flag he was 3.605 secs clear of Randaccio, to keep their 2026 unbeaten record intact. “We had to stay on the lead lap and the safety car helped bunch us up, other wise we wouldn’t have caught UVio, so we were lucky today,” Dovell admitted.
Butterworth brought GCI home in third, with Harding fourth for debutants Northern Velocity, Greenheath’s Bate was fifth and Seed Data’s Hogg, just held off Demon Tweeks’ Minshaw to complete the final top six, after swapping a with a few laps to go, after Minshaw ran wide at Wilson.
“The race was fantastic after we had carburation issues in practice. The best bit was unlapping myself and it just got better. Almost perfect but we had to work for it,” Butterworth enthused.
“Jack kept us honest to the end. Mike got swamped a bit at the start, but we settled, head down and had good stops. But I made my move a bit early, and had to spend the rest defending,” Hogg admitted.
“Kept out of trouble, upped the pace and didn’t lose the splitter. I had scraps with everyone, and that’s our best Fun Cup result,” added Demon Tweeks’ Jason Minshaw.
RBR’s Baker pipped Track Focused’s McCollum for eighth two laps from home, while Signature RV’s Clutton, Steve Ruston and John Whitehouse and Rare Vinyl’s Rob Croydon/Tom Roche completed the top 10.
“We had lost the pack midrace after some contact and the front was lifting on the straights, but a great race and Mike was really competitive at the end, and I admit I have missed Fun Cup,” Track Focused’s Cooper said.
There was however an amended result, when UVio was disqualified in post race scrutineering for being 1.5kg underweight, moving the Northern Velocity trio into third overall, netting them £1,000 for a podium finish on their Fun Cup debuts.
“Coming from sprint racing to enduro it was more aggressive than we expected. More like a four-hour sprint and everyone races hard from front to back. I had to fight for everything, it was hard and I had a few hairy moments. The safety car didn’t help us, we had no radio after about 30 minutes and lost out when we weren’t in the tow, seemingly down on power a bit,” Northern Velocity’s Harding explained.
So it’s on to Anglesey next for our first double-header of the year.
Published by Peter Scherer for Fun Cup Endurance, May 11th 2026
