Caterham Motorsport kicked off the latest chapter of their illustrious history this past weekend (April 1) as they ran under the British Automobile Racing Club banner for the first time – serving up a big grids and blockbuster wheel-to-wheel entertainment at Oulton Park.
Organised and run by the Club’s North Western Centre at the picturesque Cheshire circuit, the popular manufacturer – which celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year – lifted the curtain on its 2023 season in spectacular style.
In the Mission Motorsport Caterham Seven 270R Championship, spoils were shared as two drivers established themselves as the early pace-setters.
After charging to pole position by a little over a tenth of a second in qualifying, Charlie Lower came out on top of a captivating four-way battle for victory in the opening encounter, as he led home Matt Larbey and Rrutuj Patki.
Freddie Chiddicks – who had been given a 10-second start line penalty in race one – proved to be the driver to beat for the remainder of the day as he bounced back by coming to the fore to triumph in races two and three.
The Motul Caterham Seven 310R Championship saw some of the closest winning margins registered over the course of the day however the victor remained the same throughout all three bouts.
Lars Alexander Hoffmann proved too much for the opposition by clinching a hat-trick of wins, although two of them were ultimately by less than a staggering tenth of a second.
Lewis Thompson made his mark on the Avon Tyres Caterham Seven Championship UK as he took an impressive brace of wins. After topping qualifying and then narrowly missing out on the Superpole, Thompson reigned supreme in commanding fashion to win both races.
In the day’s third schedule Seven Championship UK race, an on-track incident brought the red flag out and proceedings to a halt. Caterham Cars has since provided an update on the incident HERE.
Rounding out the day’s action were a handful of contests from the Vertex Caterham Roadsport Championship, where spectators arguably witnessed one of the closest finishes of the season already – with the top four covered by just 0.079.
After a monumental multi-car scrap for overall honours in race one, a drag race to the start-finish line saw Lyonel Tollemache pip Ben Timmons to the top step of the podium by a mere 0.006 of a second whilst Tom McEwing finished 0.065 behind in third.
Race two would see things be just as close however it was Timmons that reigned supreme this time as he fended off the the advances of McEwing to register his first victory of the year.
To view the full classification of results from Oulton Park, CLICK HERE.
