Donington Park provided the setting for a pulsating 2024 season-opener on the TOCA support bill this past weekend (April 27-28) as a total of five championships blasted into life in typically action-packed style. 

Taking centre stage alongside the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at the Leicestershire venue, the bumper crowd in attendance was treated to two days of blockbuster entertainment in at times challenging conditions. 

Saturday saw light showers briefly hit the track however action remained to time; something that wasn’t to be the case on Sunday as heavy downpours caused lengthy delays and a number of races having to be cancelled.

The Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain – which this year boasts one of its most competitive entry lists in recent memory – was one of the categories to run just one race however it made a flying start to the new campaign with Will Martin claiming a hard-fought win.

Matthew Rees had looked on course to covert his pole position into victory however a moment at the Old Hairpin allowed Martin to sneak by and once out front he wasn’t to be challenged as he claimed a memorable win.

Behind Martin, former BTCC race winner George Gamble battled a number of car issues to snare second place ahead of the charging Angus Whiteside, who had produced a sensational drive up the order. 

The ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA began its search for the next possible star of Formula 1 by staging two hotly contested single-seater races.

Pre-season title favourite Deagen Fairclough lived up to all expectations in the opening bout as he converted his blistering start from the second row into a flawless lights-to-flag victory ahead of James Higgins and Alex Ninovic. 

Fairclough could do nothing to stop his Hitech Pulse-Eight team-mate Mika Abrahams from triumphing in race two as he shadowed on-the-road leader Alex Berg to the chequered flag. Unfortunately for Berg, a time penalty for exceeding track limits dropped him from first to third. 

Dan Zelos began the defence of his Vertu MINI CHALLENGE JCW title in formidable form as he scooped a win and a second place to claim the early bragging rights in the championship standings. 

Zelos joined fellow former champion Ant Whorton-Eales in serving up a captivating battle for the win in the opening contest with Whorton-Eales initially triumphing. That was before officials deemed he had gained an unfair advantage and hit him with a time penalty.

Race two belonged to NAPA Racing UK’s Lewis Selby as his inspired move to switch to slick tyres while everyone else was on wets saw him go from dead-last to the top step of the podium, as he led home Zelos and last year’s Cooper champion Tom Ovenden.

The Legends Cars Championship garnered plenty of attention when it featured on the UK’s premier motorsport package in 2023 and the 5/8 scale machines are back for more this year, with a bumper grid all vying for glory in its Elite Cup.

Celebrating its 30th Anniversary season, the trio of Andy Bird, Jack Parker and Will Gibson reigned supreme on the opening day of track action before Gibson and Parker then added to their tallies 24 hours later.

Concluding the weekend’s action were two races from the Radical Challenge, which was another series to return to the BTCC bill after enjoying an impressive debut last year.

Tipped by many as one to watch prior to the weekend beginning, Chris Lulham duly lived up to all expectations as he powered his way to a brace of victories. 

To view the full classification of results from all sessions at Donington Park, CLICK HERE.

Brands Hatch provides the next step on the calendar – where everything but the Radical Challenge will be in action – on May 11-12.