Will Hunt leads the 2021 Radical SR1 Cup after collecting maximum points for a clean sweep of race wins and fastest laps, and a pole position in a dominant display at Snetterton (Saturday 24 April).
The Motorsport UK Academy driver set out his intentions for the 2021 season in qualifying by securing pole position for race one with a time of 1m55.681s, and a front-row grid slot for race two with a second-best time of 1m56.101s.
The fast-starting Hunt led the SR1 Cup field away from pole position, staying a nose ahead of second-placed James Lay on the entry to Riches and immediately setting about extending his advantage.
Hunt controlled the race beautifully and ultimately broke his rivals’ spirits by setting consecutive fastest laps, the best of which was merely two tenths of a second off his pole position time and more than half a second up on his competitors’ efforts.
As a result, the Scorpio Motorsport racer’s nearest challenger was some four seconds adrift when the chequered flag fell after 20 minutes and 11 laps of racing on the 2.99-mile Snetterton circuit, his 2021 title bid getting off to the best of starts with a perfectly executed lights-to-flag victory.
In Round 2 it was a similar story, as Hunt got the better of polesitter Lay off the line and once again attempted to gap the chasing pack.
Lay stubbornly held on to make it a two-horse race for first position, but Hunt once again lit up the timing screens with purple sectors, exceeding the fastest lap he set in Round 1 to eventually extinguish the threat from behind and do the double at Snetterton.
A clean sweep of victories and fastest laps, and pole position puts Hunt atop the Radical SR1 Cup championship standings with 83 points, and he said: “The Radical SR1 Cup weekend at Snetterton has panned out better than I could ever have expected, and it really does feel like 2021 could be my year. I’m really happy with my pace and results and being nominated as the Sunoco Radical Driver of the Day is the icing on the cake.
“In both races, I caught the opposition napping at the start and simply dictated the pace from there, pushing forward once my tyres were up to temperature. From the outside, it may have been a pretty boring spectacle, but I had a lot of fun inside the car and achieving two victories at a track where I’ve experienced my fair share of misfortune gives me a lot of confidence and motivation for the rest of the season, particularly when we visit circuits I usually excel at, such as Brands Hatch.”
