


The British Automobile Racing Club soaked up the Snetterton sunshine this past weekend (April 12/13) as Caterham Motorsport and the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy delivered a spectacular two days of racing in Norfolk.
Becoming the latest catalogue of championships to kick-start their 2025 campaigns, a total of 16 races played out around the near three-mile circuit – serving up spades of entertainment to both those in attendance and watching online.
If you were wanting to succeed in the Bilstein Caterham Roadsport Championship then having the surname Harris was the way to go as both Charles Harris and William Harris proved to be the class of the field, claiming a win apiece.
Neither driver was able to top the times in qualifying however their race craft shone through in the opening encounter as they carved their way to the head of the field, with Charles pipping William to the chequered flag by the slender margin of 0.031s.
Locking out the front row of the grid for race two, the duelling brothers renewed their battle at the head of the pack although this time it was William that reigned supreme, taking the spoils by six tenths of a second.
Ben Wheatley – who in the past has cut his teeth in Caterham Graduates – was perfection personified in the EDGE Caterham Seven 270R Championship as he scored three wins from three races.
Setting the pace from the get-go by claiming pole position in qualifying, Wheatley was flawless from start-to-finish as he clinched a clean sweep of triumphs. Adam Kene and Lyonel Tollemache would prove to be his nearest competitors.
Over in the Vertex Caterham Seven 310R Championship, pre-season favourites Taylor O’Flanagan and Lars Alexander Hoffman lived up to all expectations as they enjoyed a share of the spoils that were on offer.
Just a few tenths of a second separated the race winner from the chasing pack on each occasion and in the opening encounter, O’Flanagan narrowly got the better of Alexander Hoffman in race one . That however would be the only time the latter would be beaten as he won the remaining two contests.
Rounding out the Caterham Motorsport thrills were a trio of races from the manufacturer’s premier category, the Dutch Barn Vodka Caterham Seven UK Championship, where three different drivers stole a majority of the headlines – Matthew Armstrong, Paul Donkin and Harry Senior.
Kicking off what promises to be another vintage year for the series, Armstrong got the better of Senior to win race one by just 0.045s before Donkin did the same in race two.
After two near misses, Senior would finally get his moment on the top step of the podium at the end of the weekend however as triumphed by yet another small margin to beat Armstrong and with it, grab the early advantage in the championship standings.
The Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy is renowned for close-quarter racing year-on-year and that proved to be the case over the weekend as a bumper grid of tin top titans went wheel-to-wheel for the first time this year.
Joshua Wilby gave Team Avago their maiden victory in a frenetic opening bout before Leo Purches beat last year’s Junior Saloon Car Championship title winner Harry Smith to the chequered flag in a dramatic end to race two.
Reigning Teams’ champions Westbourne Motorsport – who up until race three had enjoyed their fair share of bad luck – finally came good as former Rookie Cup champion Rhys Hurd hit the front and never looked back to win ahead of Gabe Fairbrother and Olivier Algieri.
Completing the weekend’s action at Snetterton were two races from the Adrian Flux Insurance MG Owners Club Championship, which had lifted the curtain on its 2025 season at Donington Park last month.
Like its season-opener, race day on Sunday for the single-marque series belonged to the father-son duo of Steve McDermid and Jake McDermid. Multiple champion Steve struck first with his third win of the season in race one before Jake claimed a popular maiden win in the finale.
To view the full classification of results from all sessions at Snetterton, CLICK HERE.
If you missed any of the action from the latest BARC weekend, head over to our YouTube channel and watch it all back HERE.