LMP3 Cup UK – Donington Park

LMP3 Cup UK returns to Donington Park this time on the full Grand Prix circuit for the final round of this inaugural season…

It’s been a strong inaugural season for the Henderson Insurance Brokers LMP3 cup, with a core base of teams who have been competing since the first round took place back in April at the famous Derbyshire circuit, it’s provided some great racing throughout the year.

The #79 car from Ecurise Ecosse with Alasdair Mccaig and Colin Noble have already wrapped up the title back at the last round at Snetterton. A tight battle between them and the #3 United Autosports Ligier piloted by Matt Bell and Tony Wells only to be settled by technical issues for the United Autosports pairing. As McCaig and Noble return to Donington Park as champions, don’t expect them to ease up, the Ecurie Ecosse outfit will want to end the season on a high.

Jack Butel in the Speedworks Ligier sitting in third has been building pace all season with consistent strong finishes including 2 podiums at Snetterton he will be looking to climb that one step further this weekend to claim a win at the final round of the championship and carry some momentum through the off season.

Rising talent Sandy Mitchell arrives for his first appearance in a prototype car for this weekend, the 17 year old won this drive, already he is a strong force within GT4 racing and could be a standout performer this weekend, paired with Mitchell is Olympian turned now successful semi-pro driver, Chris Hoy. Chris Hoy is no stranger to racing having driven previously in the British GT championship as well as a previous Le Mans finish.

The hugely experienced Johnny Mowlem joins United Autosports for the weekend along with Bonamy Grimes. Bonamy Grimes is targeting a future Le mans drive and with Mowlem as a coach, its an achievable goal that could come in the next few years. This final round entry in an LMP3 Cup round will definitely give him some key experience, with a strong performance you may even see him returning to the series at the beginning of next season.

Race 1

Under heavy cloud, the green flag waved, #2 United Autosports car held the lead into redgate corner all be it under a strong attack from the #79 Ecurie Ecosse Ligier follwed closely by the #3 United Autosport Machine in the hands of Tony Wells. The race quickly settled in apart from a loss of control by Mike Newbould aboard the #72 Douglas Motorsports Ligier, the car off and never returned to the circuit, so a DNF for the pairing.

The pit window opened and cars flooded in over a few laps, the pack all shuffled about they soon resumed normality. Alasdair McCaig suffered a puncture not long after the pit stops and had a Long fight back, at one point was 35 seconds behind the main pack but by the end was a mere 5 seconds, a fantastic drive to pull the time back, can only imagine the result if the puncture never happened.

Jamie Spence on-board the #23 Nielsen racing car, made a superb late braking pass on the inside of Jack Butel in the #96 speed works Liger putting Spence and Rishover up into 3rd place where they stayed until the checkered flag.

2nd was claimed by Sandy Mitchel and Sir Chris Hoy after a solid first stint from Hoy, Mitchell backed it up with a stellar 2nd stint to give them a comfortable gap to hold the 2nd position.

The race was won by Tony Wells and Matt Bell piloting the #3 United Autosports machine, claiming their 4th win in the LMP3 Cup series.

Qualifying

Qualifying started under glorious sunshine but soon turned into the weather which was expected, the rain started effectively cutting the session short by a couple of minutes, leaving the early laps to decide the grid for race 2, the final race of the inaugural season of LMP3 UK cup.

RACE 2

A heavy rain shower less then 30 minutes before the start set the scene for a very eventful final race of the season. No question at all, wet tyres were needed, plenty of standing water on the circuit and the threat of rain on the horizon.

The field were led away by the safety car on 2 green flag laps to familiarise themselves with the conditions. The safety car pulled off coming onto lap three and a wall of spray was instantly up making it hard for anyone not in the top 2 to really see clearly. The cars tip toe’d through red gate corner, soft touch to the noise pedal and pinky’s out driving was needed, luckily every one kept their cool and made it through. The field heading down the grand prix loop and SIr Chris Hoy onboard the #32 United auto sports car had taken the lead, unfortunately coming out of Goddards, he gave it a little too much right foot and spun across the track, coming to a stand still at the entrance to the pitlane. This mishap from Hoy brought out the safety car luckily just as he got going again, meaning he never went a lap down.

The race settled into a rhythm and the cars fanned out, all with their own space just in time for when the pit window opened. Majority of cars pitted straight away with a few left to come in the next few laps. Jack Butel behind the wheel of the #96 Speedworks machine was last to pit, the rain had started falling again slowing the pace once again. As jack sat waiting with his success seconds ticking away, it seemed he chose the right time to pit as the pace slowed he effectively lost less time to the cars and his lead wouldn’t diminish as quick. As he left the pitlane he was in second position to series champions of Alasdair McCaig and Craig Noble in the #79 Ecurise Ecosse Ligier. The rain intensified and the pace dropped once more but maybe not enough for Noble, he’d lost control coming out of the old hair pin into schwantz curve and slid across the sodden grass and substantially damaged his car and the tyre wall. The race director at this point saw it fit to red flag the race as it had surpassed 75% distance and a result could be declared.

Count back one lap and Jack Butel was in second position, with noble in first but not classified Butel would claim his maiden LMP3 win after multiple podiums this season. Butel has impressed a lot this year and couldn’t have signed off the year in better fashion than claiming a long awaited win in the series.