The competition heats up in the Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco as the Radical UK Cup contenders join in.
Last weekend the first round of this year’s Radical UK Cup was held at Rockingham and the leading runners joined battle with the British GT and British F3 drivers in the chase for the Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco.
Derek Johnston was perhaps the pre-event favourite as the defending champion. Sure enough, he and last year’s winner of the Autosport Golden Helmet for the most club race wins in 2008, Jonathan Wright, took the win in their works SR8 after Johnston snatched the lead from Roger Bromiley, sharing with Rob Wheldon, with three laps to go, but neither of them took pole position – that went to Ross Kaiser, who with Terrance Woodward could do no better than 9th in the race after their R8 expired with 5 minutes to go.
The points for fastest lap went to Rob Wheldon, which was some consolation for his car losing the lead so close to the end and means that he scored only 5 points less than the winners. The latest point table is here:
http://www.aaoil.co.uk/assets/Rolex_24_challenge_standings_22nd_april.pdf. Please note that at this stage the average points to date are the ones that are being taken into account.
A guest celebrity for this meeting was none other than three-time Daytona winner, Andy Wallace. “It was a very late deal but fantastic fun,” Andy explained. “I know Roger [Green] from years back and we keep in contact. The opportunity came up for him to drive the car and he offered me the second seat".
“It was a difficult learning curve because I had never been to Rockingham before and I missed the majority of testing so only got about six laps before the race". “The Radicals are great to drive. The acceleration is akin to an LMP1 car and if they had carbon brakes, the cornering speed wouldn’t be far off either. The aero is good but the car moves around much more because it’s so light. It was a one-off outing but if the opportunity arises again I would love another go.” Wallace and the evo magazine journalist qualified 8th and finished 7th, thus emphasising the strength of competition in the series.
Some information on the Daytona Driver Challenge - winner gets a seat in the Daytona 24 Hours in a Daytona Prototype - not shabby!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco
The Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco is a driver challenge between Sunoco fuelled series in Europe. For 2009 the drivers in the Cooper Tyres British F3 International, the Avon Tyres British GT Championship, the Radical UK Cup and in the SPEED sports prototype series will go head to head against each other throughout the year collecting points for race position, fastest lap and pole position.
The highest point scorer will win a race-seat in a Daytona Prototype at the 2010 Rolex 24 At Daytona® in a top team and race against the best sports cars racers in the world. The winner will also participate at an January 3-day pre-season test session at the Daytona race track and become the ambassador for Grand AM and Sunoco in Europe. This amazing prize will give the winner of the Driver Challenge a great chance to not only to race in a top team in one of the iconic 24-hour races in the world but also to win the race....
