DW Racing wins Team of the Weekend award in victorious Oulton Park round

DW Racing won the Motul Team of the Weekend award in Round 3 of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Oulton Park (21-23 June), where Sam Shaw stretched his SR1 championship lead, Oscar Joyce scaled the podium, and Peter Tyler added another Fangio class triumph to his tally.

Darren Winter: “DW Racing came away from the Hagerty Radical Cup UK Oulton Park round with the Motul Team of the Weekend award, and that’s down to an immense effort from the lads and lasses within the squad. We came into the weekend believing we would start seeing results for our labour and I think we have. There were some testing times and I couldn’t have asked for anymore from our team members, who always give 100 per cent. We have been strong and leave Oulton Park with our heads held high.

“It’s a shame we didn’t see Oscar (Joyce) on the podium more because he showed flashes of pace, but he got caught out on all three of his race starts, which is something he needs to work on. It meant he was always on the backfoot and never really able to hit his stride, simply because he was significantly quicker than the cars immediately ahead of him.”

“Peter (Tyler) picked up a lot of useful points in the Fangio class, maximising the absence of some key rivals, but we all hope they’ll be back on the grid next time out at Circuit Paul Ricard. His pace was strong and he had what he needed in the car to push forward to some great results, including another class win and outright podiums.”

“We couldn’t have asked for a better performance from Sam (Shaw), who scored maximum points in race one and finished first on the road in the latter two contests. He did well to maintain P1 until the red flag in the final race against stiff opposition from Marcus Littlewood, and his performances bode well for the remainder of the season.”

Sam Shaw

Sam Shaw has opened up a healthy lead in the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK SR1 championship standings after a near-perfect weekend at Oulton Park, which featured maximum points scores in all three races (21-23 June).

There was work to do to get on terms with title rival Marcus Littlewood after Friday practice, but DW Racing and Shaw managed to bridge the gap with some tweaks to car setup and driving techniques.

Radical Factory Invitational driver Will Redford locked out pole position in Qualifying, but it was nip-and-tuck between Shaw and Littlewood, and the top three in SR1 were covered by a mere 0.046s.

In the first of three Radical Cup UK races, Shaw was relatively slow away from the front row of the grid but crucially maintained track position over Littlewood, who was unrelenting in his pursuit but couldn’t breach Shaw’s defences in an enthralling lights-to-flag battle.

Shaw initially edged towards the class-leading #42 Radical Factory car, but the gap stabilised at around one second as the pressure from behind increased, the DW Racing driver earning a silver trophy but maximum points, having finished second to a non-scoring Invitational entry.

Later on Saturday (22 June), Shaw got the better of poleman Littlewood in a sweeping move around the outside of Old Hall corner.

He stubbornly held his line while his opponent squeezed him and, on the inside at Cascades, completed the overtake on the plunge down the hill.

In clean air, the Nile Trading-backed driver broke free of his pursuers and, despite a small gear selection error at the Island Hairpin, an improved car balance enabled him to simply control the gap to the finish.

The victory significantly boosted Shaw’s title aspirations because championship challenger Littlewood failed to finish, but the duelling duo would cross swords again in the third Radical contest on Sunday (23 June).

The heat rose both in the air and on the track and, although Shaw made good use of pole position, Littlewood maintained a constant presence in his rear-view mirrors during the final 25-minute Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) support race.

A staunch defence in soaring ambient temperatures kept Shaw at the head of the SR1 pack, a red-flag stoppage with five minutes on the clock blessed relief for DW’s rookie racer.

“The third and final race was very hot and I had Marcus (Littlewood) and Will (Redford) right behind me, putting me under a lot of pressure from start-to-finish,” said Shaw. “I managed to hold on and the red flag coming out with only five minutes on the clock helped me, but I think we would have had enough to stay in first place had it gone the distance.

“It has been a relatively tough weekend in the Hagerty Radical Cup UK because we haven’t had the outright pace, but we still managed to maximise our results, and collecting full points in every race is really great for my championship. If we have a good time at Circuit Paul Ricard, we can feel a bit more comfortable in the fight for the SR1 title.”

Oscar Joyce

Luck had not been with Oscar Joyce in the first two instalments of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Donington Park and Snetterton, but the London-domiciled racer’s fortunes took a turn for the better in a consistent weekend at Oulton Park (21-23 June).

In the opening Radical encounter on Saturday (22 June), Joyce dropped a position in a slow getaway from fourth on the grid but was ultimately lifted into the podium places when both Jason Rishover in the #23 360 Competition and John Macleod in the #14 RSR were slapped with time penalties for track limits breaches.

Stuck behind the penalised cars, Joyce was prevented from unleashing his true pace and going off in pursuit of the leading pair, and it was a similar story in race two.

The grid was determined by the second fastest qualifying times and Joyce lined up third, but the Richmond racer lost track position into Old Hall corner and was caught up behind the #14 RSR for the duration, rarely more than half a second adrift in a race-long tussle for the final podium spot.

A front-row grid position in race three provided some hope of a truly representative performance, but the top runners went three-wide into Turn 1 at Old Hall, Joyce forced to back down as he was pinched by Rishover and the fast-starting Chris Lulham in the #20 Valour Racing car.

Later, Luke Hilton executed an opportunistic overtake for P3 at the Island Hairpin, but Joyce kept up the pressure and his rival soon made a mistake, running wide onto the grass at Knickerbrook.

Unfortunately, Joyce had to take avoiding action as Hilton rejoined the racetrack and the delay allowed opportunistic DW Racing stablemate Peter Tyler through for what would be a third-place result.

Joyce consequently classified fourth in the red flag-shortened race once track limits penalties had been applied to rivals’ race times, and he said: “I could have easily had third place in the last Radical race. It was hard to follow because everyone suffered with aero-wash and the gaps ebbed and flowed a various points of the lap, but then the tyres cooked when I pushed on to recover towards Peter (Tyler) after Luke Hilton’s unsafe rejoin.

“There’s still room for me to improve, as my race starts weren’t as strong as they could have been. I subsequently found myself in some difficult positions, baulked by slower drivers. I would go around a second quicker when catching them in relatively clean air, so it’s fair to say I was unable to unleash my full pace.”

Joyce continued: “Overtaking at Oulton Park is difficult at the best of times because it’s so narrow, and I truly believe the racing will be much improved when we move on to Circuit Paul Ricard, which is very wide with long straights. Overall, it has been a far more positive race weekend than the previous two in the Hagerty Radical Cup UK, as I’ve been far more consistent.”

Peter Tyler

Peter Tyler collected more Fangio class wins and outright podium finishes in Round 3 of the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Oulton Park (21-23 June).

The Sussex-based driver started the first Radical race from sixth and dropped away from the main pack, but track limits penalties for both Jason Rishover in the #23 360 Competition and John Macleod in the #14 RSR cars meant he was classified as the highest-placed Fangio finisher in P4 overall.

Runner-up in Fangio following a relatively slow start to what was an uneventful second race, Tyler found speed the following afternoon (Sunday 23 June) and swept up an eventual third-place finish when an unsafe rejoin by the wayward Luke Hilton delayed DW Racing teammate Oscar Joyce.

“Oulton Park is very kind to me and I really do like the track, which is very narrow and physical,” said Tyler. “I found pace every time we went out on-track and my DW Racing-prepared Radical SR3 XXR has been great all weekend.

“I couldn’t quite keep with the main pack in Saturday’s first race, but there were a lot of fights and I could see frequent track limits offences, so I decided to just stay with them in the hope of gaining places after penalties were applied. I was keen to keep it tidy and was pleased to jump up to first position in the Fangio class.

“In race three, I kept up with the main pack, took all of the chances that came my way and made the most of it. The race was interesting and was building up to a spicy climax, but the red flags flew with five minutes to go. Nevertheless, it was a good show for the ITV4 audiences and positive for Radical.”