Oulton Park played host to a blockbuster two days of TOCA support championship action this past weekend (June 22/23) as the 2024 campaign reached the half-way point in typically dramatic fashion.
Sharing the bill with the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship in Cheshire, four one-make categories wrote the latest spectacular chapter of their seasons as they delivered an array of thrills and spills for the bumper crowd that was in attendance.
Nathan Edwards enjoyed a dream weekend in the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW as he reigned supreme, starting both races from pole position and then duly following it up with two impressive wins.
Race one around the 2.26-mile circuit saw Edwards produce a clinical display as he converted his front row start into a maiden victory. Nailing the launch as the lights went out, the EXCELR8 driver held firm out front to triumph despite coming under pressure from Nelson King and Tom Ovenden.
Edwards then repeated the feat in race two as he again didn’t put a wheel wrong out front to emerge victorious, with Ovenden this time leading home King after a fraught battle for the remaining podium honours.
The Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain saw Thomas Bradshaw make a welcome return to the winners enclosure as he took the fight to Sebastian Hopkins in the overall battle for the coveted championship crown.
Hopkins picked up where he left off at the last round and scored victory in the weekend’s opening contest however he could do nothing to stop Bradshaw in his Toro Verde GT machine from romping to the top step of the podium in the remaining two races.
Some of the closest on-track battles over the course of the weekend came in the Vertex Caterham Seven UK Championship, which was making its first appearance of the season on the support bill of the UK’s premier motorsport series.
All three races ended with just a handful of seconds covering the lead protagonists; something that has become a staple of Caterham racing down the years. Paul Donkin triumphed in the weekend’s opening race before Lewis Thompson then struck back – twice.
Returning to the BTCC support package was also the all-action Hagerty Radical Cup UK – having last featured at Snetterton in late May – where an ultra-competitive grid served up three captivating contests.
As he has done on countless occasions already this year, Chris Lulham was the driver to beat as he snared pole position and he then streaked clear of the chasing pack to claim a commanding hat-trick of race wins.
To view the full classification of results from all sessions at Oulton Park, CLICK HERE.