DW Racing’s Shaw holds SR1 points lead and Tyler clinches SR3 Fangio win at Silverstone

DW Racing’s Sam Shaw held on at the top of the Hagerty Radical Cup UK SR1 Championship, countering a DNF with two race wins on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit (27-28 July).

The Peterborough-based team fielded six cars for series regulars Shaw, Oscar Joyce and Peter Tyler, as well as the returning Andy Lowe, Peter Brookes and John Davis at ‘The Home of British Motor Racing’.

While Shaw notched up his eighth and ninth victories of the 2024 season to maintain P1 in the standings with only the Brands Hatch finale remaining, Joyce also produced fighting drives and Tyler survived a dramatic opening race to secure another SR3 Fangio class win.

Darren Winter: “DW Racing was delighted to welcome Andy Lowe, Peter Brookes and John Davis back to the fold for the penultimate round of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone. As always, there were high expectations among the drivers and, with six entries, we knew it would be tougher than previous race meetings. However, I was sure we had all the people and resources necessary to manage everything that was thrown our way, and we certainly did.

“Race one produced a great result for Peter (Tyler) and the amended classification rightly benefited Sam (Shaw), who was unfortunate to not finish race two but did a superb job to keep Marcus Littlewood at bay and win the final contest of the weekend. He got plenty of good points for his championship. Oscar (Joyce) drove particularly well in races two and three, but he was let down by qualifying again. As a whole, the Silverstone weekend has gone well, but I think we can do even better in the season finale at Brands Hatch.”

Sam Shaw

Sam Shaw remains at the top of the SR1 championship standings after taking a brace of victories from the penultimate round of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone (27-28 July).

Shaw drove brilliantly throughout, working his way down to super-competitive lap times in Wednesday and Thursday (24-25 July) testing, before qualifying second to title challenger Marcus Littlewood.

The DW Racing driver went with his rival away from the rolling start in race one on Saturday (27 July) and was still second when the Safety Car was deployed in response to a dramatic multi-car incident at Turn 1, Copse.

However, Hampshire’s Shaw unleashed his impeccable testing pace to get the jump on Littlewood shortly after the restart, although the positions were reversed again when the driver of the #11 car completed an overtake beyond track limits at Stowe corner.

An informal protest was lodged and evidence of the infraction presented to the Race Stewards, and Littlewood was later served with a time penalty that elevated Shaw to P1 in the definitive classification.

The second Radical Cup UK contest was turbulent for SR1 points leader Shaw; contact sent him spinning down to sixth with a 13-second deficit to the main pack, then his chain snapped on the very last lap, having put in a determined recovery drive to P2.

It was Shaw’s first retirement of the 2024 season and it could have been a significant blow to his title aspirations, but the loss was somewhat compensated by another hard-fought victory in the third and final race at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix venue.

Shaw snatched the initiative off the line and it quickly became a two-horse race with Littlewood, the championship contenders sprinting away in a protracted dogfight that raged on from lights-to-flag.

However, Shaw was faultless, never presenting his rival with an overtaking opportunity and taking control of the race as his tyres came on song in the latter stages, triumphing for a ninth time in what has been a mightily consistent rookie campaign to date.

“It has been a tricky and sometimes controversial weekend in the Hagerty Radical Cup UK, but to come away with points for two wins is something I’m really happy with,” said Shaw. “I picked up the race one win after my title rival Marcus (Littlewood) was given a post-race penalty for passing me off the track and, although failing to finish the second race hurt, I came away with another victory in the final race of the weekend.

“Marcus pushed me hard all the way, but I knew my car would come good towards the end, having made a setup change prior to race three. It was a case of holding on out front during the early stages, managing my tyres and eking out a gap to the finish. It’s very close in the championship points going into the title-decider at Brands Hatch. DW Racing and I will work as hard as ever to make sure we optimise our race car and maximise our results.”

Oscar Joyce

Oscar Joyce continued on an upward trajectory in Round 5 of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone (27-28 July), constantly upping the pace and delivering punchy race performances that yielded top six results.

Joyce consistently unlocked pace during two days of testing at ‘The Home of British Motor Racing’ (24-25 July), but contact with an errant headrest from another car caused debilitating damage to his steering, compromising his qualifying performance and putting him on the backfoot in all three races.

Eighth on the race one grid, Joyce maintained his position on the road by keeping the throttle pinned as chaos unfolded ahead of him on the first sweep through Copse corner.

The Safety Car was deployed with several cars beached in the gravel and Joyce knew he would have to start making moves immediately after the restart if he was to reach a representative position.

Unfortunately, contact at the Club chicane sent him spinning down to 17th, but the 20-year-old pulled off a dogged recovery drive that saw him surge back up into the top ten to an eventual P9 result.

In complete contrast to Saturday, the start of the second Radical race on Sunday (28 July) was completely clean, and Joyce picked up several positions on a brave and intelligent opening lap that illustrates how much his racecraft has improved in 2024.

With the competition hugging the inside line through Maggots and Becketts, Joyce wisely chose to take the opposing wide route through the switchbacks and scythed all the way from 14th to seventh.

From there, he joined the fight for fourth, clearing 360 Competition’s Jason Rishover and inheriting P5 from the spinning Valour Racing machine of Kristian Brookes, before the Safety Car positioned him under the rear wing of the #14 RSR of John Macleod.

The Radical Cup UK field was released into a one-lap sprint to the finish and a concerted effort to snatch P4 into Stowe corner ultimately cost a position to the resurgent and opportunistic Rishover, who demoted Joyce to sixth metres from the chequered flag.

In a similarly aggressive performance from tenth on the race three grid, Joyce made light work of passing 360 Competition’s Alim Geshev, as well as DW Racing teammates Andy Lowe and Peter Tyler from the SR3 Fangio class.

Those early overtakes were critical, as he was released to go off in pursuit of the three-way fight for fourth involving Pakistan’s Usmaan Mughal in the #34 Radical Factory car, and Valour pairing Jack Yang and Luke Hilton.

Joyce prised open the door to fifth place in two separate moves and did well to deny Mughal and Yang’s attempts to retaliate, but Hilton put up a staunch defence and held on to P4 to the very end.

“We were placed on the backfoot due to events that were completely out of our hands in qualifying, but racing my Radical SR3 XXR in the previous round of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Circuit Paul Ricard really helped me adapt my driving to the car, and that showed in the way I was able to fight my way forward at Silverstone,” said Joyce. “I feel I made the most of every opportunity and overcame challenging situations on the track.

“I’m happy with the weekend as a whole, because I was consistent and the results bed me into the championship pretty well. There’s still work to be done to reach the very front, but we’re there or thereabouts entering the final round at Brands Hatch.”

Peter Tyler

A class win was the highlight of a turbulent weekend in the Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone (27-28 July).

Tyler felt comfortable with his Radical SR3 XXR after testing a series of setups on Wednesday (24 July) and, although there were still a few wrinkles to iron out, his confidence showed in the races.

In the first contest of the weekend (Saturday 27 July), chaos ensued as the Radical Cup UK field descended on Copse corner.

The commotion at Turn 1 claimed a number of scalps, including leading Fangio protagonists, but DW Racing’s Tyler emerged from the dust and tyre smoke first in class, which he maintained with RSR’s Paul Denning breathing down his neck to the very last.

Happily, Sunday’s first race started without drama or incident, Tyler and DW Racing stablemate Andy Lowe running nose-to-tail in fifth and sixth respectively.

In contrast to Saturday, Denning was ahead of Tyler, but a revised wing setting inspired confidence through Silverstone’s high-speed corners and enabled the DW Racing driver to attempt a wide range of passing manoeuvres at various points of the 3.66mile lap.

The gap to Denning ebbed and flowed in a relentless cat-and-mouse battle, but it was a late Safety Car restart that caught some drivers napping and presented Tyler with the chance he had been waiting for.

The West Sussex resident vaulted away when the green flags flew, launching a successful attack on Denning at Copse corner, to then consolidate P4 on a final lap that showed he had had the pace to fight nearer the front.

The grid for race three was determined by the fastest laps from race one, with the top 50 per cent of the field reversed, therefore Tyler lined up fourth overall, directly behind teammate, Lowe.

Unfortunately, first-corner contact resulted in a loss of track position and pace for Tyler, leaving him defenceless against Valour Racing’s Kristian Brookes and 360 Competition’s Jason Rishover.

However, a three-car clash at Club brought out the red flags and lifted him back up to tenth overall and fifth in the final SR3 Fangio classification.

“Round 5 of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone has been full of ups and downs, but that’s racing,” said Tyler. “I was delighted with how the first race panned out; everything opened up for me at the start, I took all the chances and finished well to earn another SR3 Fangio class victory.

“We also had a chance to do pretty well from row two of the race three grid, but a clash at Copse corner put me back and enabled a few cars to get by. To go into Turn 1 in fourth and then come out of the corner in eighth wasn’t what I wanted and it tailed off into something of a non-race. However, we live to fight another day and go into the season finale at Brands Hatch in the thick of the SR3 Fangio fight.”

Andy Lowe

Wolverhampton’s Andy Lowe reunited with DW Racing for the penultimate round of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit (27-28 July), where he achieved top six class finishes against a field of full-season drivers in superior machinery.

As he returned to Radical Cup UK competition after a nine-month hiatus, Lowe’s first objective was to get reacquainted with his SR3 and achieve reasonable lap times in testing.

He went on to qualify well and, from 15th overall and seventh in SR3 Fangio, made significant gains early in race one, when several of his class opponents came to grief in a first-corner, multi-car collision.

Lowe efficiently worked his way through the melee to be seventh overall, immediately behind Peter Tyler in a DW Racing one-two in Fangio, although a collision saw the 55-year-old spin down the order to a still respectable P5 finish.

Stablemates Tyler and Lowe once again ran nose-to-tail in the opening exchanges of race two on Sunday (28 July), the latter holding P6 in class all the way to the chequered flag, only giving up track position to James Pinkerton in the #99 Radical (Factory Development) car from the SR3 Pro division.

And the third and final Radical clash at ‘The Home of British Motor Racing’ yielded a similar result because, although side-to-side and rear-end contact at Turn 1 sent him tumbling from second to seventh overall, Lowe held his own against a field of faster SR3 XXRs to secure another P6 in class.

“It has been a hugely enjoyable weekend with DW Racing in the Hagerty Radical Cup UK,” said Lowe. “I’m a little disappointed with how the third race went, as I got into a bit of a tangle in the first corner, but I’ve given it everything and have simply been outpaced by the Radical SR3 XXRs. I achieved three very similar results, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at Silverstone.”

Peter Brookes

Peter Brookes made his competitive comeback with DW Racing in the fifth round of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone (27-28 July).

Brookes has been absent from Radical racing for more than three years and red flag-affected test sessions (Friday 26 July) meant he had little time to familiarise himself with his SR3 XXR on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.

His mileage was reduced further when right-rear damage sustained in a collision forced him to retire from race one, but his pace, racecraft and confidence improved to such an extent that he concluded Sunday (28 July) inside the top ten in the SR3 Fangio class.

“Joining DW Racing in the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone was always going to be an enjoyable experience,” said Brookes. “I was extra cautious after the collision in race one, and I was surprised at how much it takes to get back up to speed – it’s not only outright pace, but racecraft. There’s so much to absorb and that takes time, but it’s good to get back in the swing of things. In the third and final race, I had a bit more confidence and began passing cars while stringing competitive laps together, so I’m happy.”

John Davis

John Davis took some significant strides forward in his maiden competitive outing with a Radical SR3 XXR in the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone (27-28 July).

Mercifully, all six DW Racing contenders survived a dramatic start to the first Radical race on the Silverstone Grand Prix track and, although Davis fell to 26th in the Safety Car train, he eventually clawed his way back up to 18th overall and eighth in SR3 Fangio.

The Welwyn Garden City driver had a much stronger start to race two, having taken the advice of DW Racing’s professional driver coach, Will Hunt.

However, he was compromised by some slower drivers early on and much of his time was spent bridging the gap to the main pack, only reaching his first target Adrian Hallmark as the Safety Car intervened late on, which resigned him to tenth in class.

Sadly, Davis’s quick reactions at the start of race three were negated when he was forced wide onto the run-off in avoidance of a spinner at Copse corner.

Nine positions were lost as he recovered to the track and, while he eventually caught and passed the #10 RAW Motorsports car of Rupert Adcock, a slide while negotiating Silverstone’s infamous Maggots and Becketts complex meant he rounded out the weekend in 22nd overall and 12th in the Fangio division.

“Testing at Silverstone was good for me, as I set personal best lap times in practically every session and it gave me confidence for the Hagerty Radical Cup UK race weekend,” said Davis. “I had a few moments but also made up some places on the track. I’ve also learnt a lot from DW Racing’s professional driver coaches, Will (Hunt) and Ryan (Harper-Ellam), and I’m pleased with what we have achieved. All-in-all, it has been a very enjoyable weekend, and the DW Racing team was great.”