FUN CUP ENDURANCE 2025 – ROUNDS FIVE & SIX– CROFT – RACE REPORT
UVio Hofmann’s Motorsport and Sherardize UK split the wins in a thrilling double header at Croft!
Sherardize’s Teddy Wilson led the One Hour Sprint race from the start, joined in an early break with UVio/Hoffmann’s Farquini Deott and FF Corse’s Miguel Faisca.
Faisca was second into Tower on lap three, while Greenheath’s Gary Bate led the pursuers, from Red River’s Johnny Mowlem and PLR’s Ben Pitch.
Mowlem was into fourth at Clervaux a lap later, leaving Bate under attack from Vapeclub EDF’s Ted Bradbury, they then exchanged at Tower a lap later, before Bate lost out to Riley Phillips at the Hairpin, after he started the Team Summers car.
The first change for the lead came into Tower on lap six, when Faisca got by. Farquini was still holding on in third, but having broken from a gaggle of cars in fifth, Bradbury was rapidly closing in on the lead trio. “I made quite a decent overtake and it was nice to lead, but after that managed to stay in the tow,” Faisca explained. “I didn’t try to overtake, just hung in there,” Farquini added.
Bate lost time at the Complex, “the gear actuator overheated in the pack and I could only get fifth and third, then it cleared once it had cooled,” he said.
Into Clervaux for the ninth time Bradbury was into third and a lap later he was out in front, just before the first pitstop window opened.
Following the stops, double stinting Bradbury led from UVio/Hofmanns Fabulous Randaccio, while Peter Belshaw was a solitary third for Sherardize.
But the pitstop window was soon open again, with Bradbury making a final stop to hand to Vlad Vassiliev, who once the window was closed, found himself in second behind Farquini.
“We made a bit of a mistake at the stop, but I don’t mind losing out to UVio,” said Bradbury.
UVio were back in front and managed to retain the lead after the final stop, leaving Randaccio to take the flag over 10 secs clear of Vassiliev, to record the former Champions first win for over two years. Wilson brought Sherardize home in a solid third, with Riley Phillips claiming a late fourth for Olympian/GRD, at the expense of GCI’s Craig Butterworth.
“I just drove it around,” after Farquini did the work,” said Randaccio. “I was just worried about Teddy catching us,” Farquini replied.
“It was a lot of work to do from the back in one hour without a safety car,” added Olympian/GRD’s Simon Rudd.
Debutant GT racers Matt Topham/Darren Burke were sixth for Team Disruptive, but BERT’s Jonathan Railton lost a safe seventh in the closing laps with a fuel issue.
The Axia Metrics trio of Chris Weatherill/Greg Evans/Tom Greensall, Red River’s Mowlem/Bon Grimes, Xcel EDF’s Jamie Day/Paul Fawcett/Paul Hardy and PLR’s Pitch/Neil Plimmer completed the top 10, all finishing virtually line astern.
RACE TWO
Burke set the early pace, as he and co-driver had their eye on the £10,000 prize fund.
Mowlem, Bradbury, Railton, Racelogic’s Denyer and Riley Phillips starting the Team Summers car again followed on the opening lap. But the reshuffle soon started and after three laps Bradbury emerged in second and led a lap later, making a telling break with Burke.
Faisca once again brought FF Corse into the frame, after he split the Mowlem and Phillips dual for third into Tower on lap eight, but Randaccio had charged from the back too and was into fourth by Tower on lap 14.
Philips fought back to retake UVio, which allowed Mowlem to join in again too. Faisca was then the first to stop, but Bradbury, Randaccio and Phillips all stayed out, coming in together four laps later.
“I had started to build a lead before the safety car, no pressure before I broke away,” said Bradbury. “Mowlem wanted to race me and Riley wanted to slow me down, very confusing,” Randaccio added. “I was doing OK and then lost the tow after clipping the tyre stack at the Clark Esses and had to fight back,” Mowlem replied.
Four laps behind the safety car followed, with Vassiliev heading Topham, Farquini, Grimes, Summers and Belshaw, going green just two laps before the first hour was completed, with Topham having taken Vassiliev’s lead, followed by Farquini, Wilson, Grimes and PLR’s Ben Pitch.
Topham was the first to make a second stop, handing the lead to Farquini for UVio/Hofmann’s, closely followed by Sherardize’s Wilson. “Really good but Teddy was so fast,” Topham admitted.
Wilson took charge when UVio pitted, but when he handed back to Belshaw, Randaccio was back in the lead and managed to rejoin with their lead still intact until stopping again on lap 52, just before a further and more lengthy safety car period.
Vassiliev led for Vapeclub, from BERTS’s Angus Gough, with Red River in third, but as it went green again Gough missed his braking point into Tower, hit Vassiliev hard and spun the leader down to sixth place.
“At the restart I defended our lead in case someone tried to challenge, I had the inside covered, but was hit hard, spinning me and I was lucky not to be hit by two more cars following closely,” Vassiliev explained.
Mowlem/Grimes still led for Red River after two hours, but the pressure was building as Sherardize, UVio/Hofmann’s and GCI were all in close contention, while PLR and AxiaMetrics led the pursuers.
Wilson had been all over Mowlem, but he still held his lead until the penultimate stop, but Randaccio and Butterworth were equally close for third too.
After Wilson pitted from the lead Randaccio was ahead, but when he made his stop, Farquini managed to rejoin with a 1 ½ lead which he gradually increased over Belshaw, who had Bradbury closing in on him, after he demoted GCI’s Ian Wood.
After barely a handful of laps out came the safety car again, which continued into the final pitstop window, bringing the whole field in together.
Farquini made it out first for UVio, from Wilson for Sherardize, Vassiliev for Vapeclub, Plimmer for PLR and Butterworth for GCI, but there were three more laps before the safety car pulled in and it was the final sprint to the finish.
Wilson led onto Clervaux Straight for the 90th time, but Farquini remained close, with Butterworth up to third and closing in on the lead dual. “I had been biding my time in the tow, then he ran wide and dipped a wheel in the gravel and damaged his rear wheel arch,” said Wilson
With two laps to go just 0.898 secs covered the lead trio and into the Hairpin for the final time it was any one from three. Wilson made it out first, but Farquini was challenging still.
“We’ve had a bit of a hard run, but the last stint after the safety car was brilliant, I was waiting for Teddy, but thought he might be struggling. I got alongside him at the end, but GCI were in there too,” Farquini explained.
“I shouldn’t have been so nice challenging UVio. I got him at the Hairpin, but he came back across me,” Butterworth replied after taking third behind Wilson and Farquini, with just 0.557 secs covering all three and just 0.02 between 2nd and 3rd.
“We had a bit of trouble early on, but Teddy drove a great race for us to win,” said Belshaw. But his win came at a price. “As we were at the front I had to sell my Oasis tickets at the last pitstop, as I knew I wouldn’t make it back to Manchester,” he explained.
PLR also finished strongly sealing fourth after Red River served a late penalty. Greenheath claimed fifth from Vapeclub EDF, while Team FFS, Racelogic and Red River completed the top 10, all on the lead lap.
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