In the end I was over 14s clear of the #18 and another 28s of the #117 in 3rd. The #2 Elise managed to unlap himself, and in the process set a laptime over 2s quicker than I had managed during the race. I thought Snetterton was a power circuit?

The traffic made a big difference to the lap times, meaning there were some big swings depending where you got caught out. I also didn't really push hard enough in the first few laps, but in the end it did not affect the result.

I was at the top of the position chart for the whole race.

The driver statistics show the driver time split and fastest laps. The new Mauger and Blencowe pairing are pretty consistent with each other.

After the first safety car due to Ryan's failure, it was a pretty straightforward race. I'd held the fastest lap for a bit, then the Cupra beat it, before the Elise smashed it to pieces.

Fastest Laps

Our fastest race laps are below:

The Lap record from last year was set by me, and was ALMOST beaten by the Elise, but not quite, so it will stand for another year at least!

This result means I have extended my lead to 12 points over the #117, so we need a good result at Silverstone in 2 weeks time!

ClubEnduro Qualifying

Despite the win for my side of the garage, the guys were pretty gutted for Ryan, as I was. The car seemed to be cursed! We'd also not got any spares for the extenders, only a set of the previous revision of the part that are slightly shorter.
This meant stripping both sides down, fitting the replacement parts and realigning the car. Not a 2 minute job, and the fact that my gearbox had sprung a leak right at the end of the race did not help the mood!
However, the guys did a great job, and the cars were ready and near the front of the queue for Quali. The promised rain had also held off, which helped with Ryan's confidence to push, and Dylan as he would be jumping in the car for the first time in this session.
The Mauger car immediately put in a 2:02.013, significantly faster than they had gone all weekend, and faster than anyone would be able to match all session.
My 2:03.588 was the quickest I'd gone all weekend, and kept me in P2 for most of the session until the Lawton / Pickford RS3 did a 2:01.809, that was quickly disallowed. I decided not to kill the car for the sake of a few metres in a 2hr race, so came in, got some fresh tyres to scrub in, then went to Parc Ferme.
Ryan had been struggling with gears, the box not wanting to go down, which is not ideal with the big braking zones. He handed over to Dylan who managed to put in a reasonable time despite it being stuck in 5th for the last section of the lap.

In hindsight I should have come into the pits and waited until the end, but I could not see improving much on that time, so it would have been burning tyres off for no reason.

After the first flying lap, no one came close to Maugers time.

Qualifying Laps

Our fastest Quali Laps are below:

ClubEnduro Race

Whilst Row 3 was not where I wanted to be, the position is not as critical as in the shorter races.

The whole race was Live Streamed by the guys at AlphaLive which you can see below:

The forecast had been wrong all weekend, and it chose the moment we got to the assembly area to start raining sideways. After driving in these conditions on Friday, I knew a full wet setup was probably a bad idea as if it stopped raining, the track would dry pretty quickly and then we would be in a whole world of pain. Instead we just upped the tyre pressures and hoped I could hang on until it did dry out. Ryan did the same, but was much more apprehensive, since he had not driven in the wet here for a few years, and had stuck with dry pressures, expecting the track to dry much faster than it did.
Due to the conditions the race was started under safety car conditions, giving us plenty of time to find where the grip was (or wasn't) and the chance to warm the brakes and tyres nicely. Ryan survived this, so would make the start at least today!
On the restart I made up a place on the #111 E92 of Josh and Dave, they were struggling for grip out of the last corner so I got a decent run on them, then I got the RS3 of Lawson into the Hairpin., pushing me up to 3rd. On the next lap the #117 Compact driven by Ian Jones mugged me around the outside of Corum. I could tell from the lap before he was going to give it a go, and I figured it would be better him taking chunks out of someone else instead of me in the tricky conditions.
A couple of laps later the safety car was out as the Class B Ginetta was stuck, so we were all bunched up again, then another 4 laps later it was out again, I think it was going to be one of those races!
Between all this, my closest rival in the championship, the #23 Bialan / Mason TCR lost it through Corum and ended up in the barrier. I was gutted for them.
We then managed to get to lap 30 before it came out again. I had been in the lead after the #117 BMW pitted a few laps before, and the safety car was out just after I pitted. This was either going to work in our favour, or screw us. Fingers crossed.
Ryan had kept himself out of trouble, not pushing as hard as he could have, but it is a fine line between a good pace and throwing it into the barrier. The main thing was he had kept himself in play for when the pit stops were over

Dylan was in the car, having not driven in these conditions either. Their stop seemed a bit slower than others around us who had penalties, but I am not sure if they were slow or the others were quick.
As expected, the safety car screwed me. I was held at the end of the pitlane for almost 4 minutes. What a nightmare!
By the time I came out, I was only a few cars away from Dylan, who was now in 3rd position. Until TSL sorted itself out, we still had hope that I was in 4th, but a few laps behind the safety car confirmed I was now a lap down. All I could do now was help Dylan should anyone try and attack from the rear.
He had the bit between his teeth, and was all over the back of the #18 TCR. I stuck with them and had a front row seat for the engine exploding on the TT. The car is definitely cursed!
Our full races are below:

I could not believe it. My pace was good enough for a podium, but I have been denied another chance by Race Control.

I had the 3rd fastest lap of the race, so despite expecting to be way behind on this track, the conditions helped level the playing field a bit. Dylan's pace at the end was mega. I am sure he would have got the win.

As you can see on the lapchart, I was up there right until I pitted, then I wasn't. Dylan has slowly climbed back up and only needed 5 more laps!

Ryan had done over 60% of the race, as they were waiting for the cross over to dry pressures to give Dylan the pace at the end. I think they timed it perfectly.

I don't think I have seen a fastest lap history as long as this! And the number of safety car periods was pretty mental.

Fastest Laps

Our fastest race laps are below:

The 2023 Lap Record from Will Stacey in the Elise probably shouldn't be there, since Snetterton suits the heavier, more powerful cars, and it was not troubled due to the conditions.

Despite the terrible result, I still retained the lead of the championship. All I can hope for is a good result at Oulton Park.

A big thanks to the team. Despite all the troubles of Saturday, the delivered us cars that were capable of winning, and forces outside of our control denied us a double podium, maybe even a 1-2?
The next rounds see the Roadsports and ClubEnduro split, with Roadsports in 2 weeks time at Silverstone on the International Circuit, then ClubEnduro at Oulton Park in September. At least our cars are suited to the latter track so we can hope for good results there!
After that they are back on the same weekend in October at Donington for the last races of the season, that has come round quickly!

Photos courtesy of Chris @ MonoPod Photography, Jonathan Elsey Motorsport Photography and 750MC

‹ › .

All the details and dates for future races we are entering can be found on the Darkside Motorsport Page.

03 09 2025

• #Blog_Racing