Richmond racer Oscar Joyce continues on upward trajectory with gutsy Silverstone performances

Oscar Joyce continued on an upward trajectory in Round 5 of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Silverstone (27-28 July).

The 20-year-old from Richmond constantly upped the pace during two days of testing at ‘The Home of British Motor Racing’ (24-25 July), before producing three fighting race performances from lowly grid positions, to achieve a trio of highly respectable top six finishes.

Oscar said:

I delivered my most determined drives of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK season at Silverstone (27-28 July), and that’s mostly down to the lessons and experiences of the previous ‘flyaway’ round at Circuit Paul Ricard in the South of France.

It’s clear why the French venue was originally built as a high-tech test track, because I felt able to push the boundaries in my quest to adapt my driving style to the Radical SR3 XXR and hone my racecraft.

I learned quite a few things about myself as a racing driver as I ascended from eighth to third in Le Castellet, harnessing a controlled aggression that definitely had a positive impact on my results in Round 5 of the 2024 season at Silverstone.

I consistently unlocked pace over the course of two days of testing at ‘The Home of British Motor Racing’ (24-25 July) and entered the Radical Cup UK race weekend with plenty of confidence.

However, qualifying was disastrous; I sustained debilitating steering damage in a collision with a headrest that had detached from a rival car, so I was unable to register representative times that would have put me at the sharp end of the starting grids.

It has been a theme of the 2024 season. All too often we have been placed on the backfoot by circumstances that are completely out of our hands, and I was frustrated knowing that all three Silverstone races would be that much harder from mid-pack.

However, from eighth on the race one grid, I kept the throttle pinned to the floor as several cars came to grief in a spectacular incident at Copse corner, emerging from the dust and tyre smoke unscathed in my starting position.

The Safety Car was deployed with several cars beached in the gravel and, keen to reach a representative position, I felt an urgency to make moves as soon as we were back up to full racing speed.

On the first green flag lap, I slipped up the inside of another car into the Club chicane, nosing ahead at the second apex, where I was tipped into a spin that sent me tumbling to 17th overall.

A dogged recovery drive was required to achieve a meaningful result, but I was only able to get back up to a disappointing P9 before the clock expired.

The start of the second Radical race on Sunday (28 July) was completely clean, and I produced what is probably my strongest and most ballsy first lap to date.

Everybody made it through the first corner without damage and, knowing my competition would all be gunning for the inside line through the Maggots and Becketts complex, I chose to take the more unconventional wide route through the switchbacks.

As I hoped and predicted, the road opened up for me and I gained several positions, scything all the way from 14th to seventh on the initial tour of the 3.66mile Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.

It was a risky strategy, but I felt trying and crashing would be better than just sitting back.

From there, I joined the fight for fourth, passing 360 Competition’s Jason Rishover just before Valour Racing’s Kristian Brookes went for a spin.

The Safety Car then put me on terms with the #14 RSR machine of John Macleod and I made a concerted effort to snatch P4 on what turned into a one-lap sprint to the finish.

I feigned a move into Stowe corner but lost momentum, which ultimately cost me a position to the resurgent and opportunistic Rishover, who snatched fifth just metres from the flag.

Nevertheless, it was a fun and exciting race, which preceded a similarly aggressive performance from tenth on the race three grid.

I got the jump on 360 Competition’s Alim Geshev, as well as my DW Racing teammates Andy Lowe and Peter Tyler, and those early passes enabled me to home in on the three-way fight for fourth.

I prised open the door to fifth place in two separate overtakes on Usmaan Mughal in the #34 Radical Factory car and Valour Racing’s Jack Yang.

That put Luke Hilton firmly in my crosshairs and, although I made several attempts to get by, the Valour driver defended his position well, and I rounded out a solid weekend at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix venue in fifth.

On the whole, I’m very happy with my consistency, and the results bed me into the championship pretty well.

My bravery paid dividends and the way I carved through the field illustrates how much my racecraft has improved, as I feel I made the most of every opportunity and overcame plenty of challenging situations on the track.

I can’t deny that there’s still work to be done to reach the very front, but I believe we will be there or thereabouts in the final round of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Brands Hatch (14-15 September).