The sun shone on the British Automobile Racing Club this past weekend (June 24/25) as a number of championships continued their 2023 campaigns around the world-famous Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.
Returning to the Home of British Motor Racing for the second time this year, the BARC took centre stage under the bright blue skies for a 13-race schedule across two days that was just as scorching on track as it was off it.
Less than a week on from staging its milestone 250th race at Oulton Park, the ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA was back in action and the latest instalment of their season saw more history made as the series competed around Silverstone’s 3.66-mile layout for the first time.
Ahead of its annual summer break, the single-seater series – which is the first step on the road to Formula 1 – served up a pulsating trio of races where slip streaming and wheel-to-wheel battles had those watching trackside and online on the edge of their seats.
Rodin Carlin’s Josh Irfan became the tenth different winner in a pulsating opener as his lightning start from row two saw him charge into a lead that he would ultimately never lose – with the rookie driver controlling proceedings out front to triumph ahead of Will Macintyre and James Piszcyk.
Race two then saw Irfan’s team-mate Noah Lisle strengthen his championship challenge with an impressive third victory of the season before James Piszcyk rounded things off by leading a Hitech Pulse-Eight top four lockout in race three.
The British Endurance Championship headed back to Silverstone with another strong entry list however nobody was able to stop the PB Racing Audi R8 GT3 duo of Peter Erceg and Marcus Clutton – who reigned supreme in commanding style.
Arriving at the Northamptonshire venue as the team to beat, Erceg and Clutton quickly established themselves out front as they blasted to pole position in qualifying by little under a second.
As the lights went out on Saturday afternoon’s two-hour bout, the striking black and orange R8 GT3 wasted no time in establishing an advantage out front. The multiple race winners soon broke clear of the chasing pack and began to stretch their legs, ultimately taking victory by two laps.
Best of the rest was the Scott Sport Lamborghini Super Trefeo Evo of Mikkel Mac and Keith Frieser in second and the Team HARD duo of Brad Thurston and Daryl de Leon in their Porsche 991 Cup in third.
Datum Motorsport’s Axel van Nederveen headed Ginetta dominance in the ROWE Britcar Trophy Championship as he charged victory in Sunday’s two-hour race.
Having missed out on pole position in qualifying to the Assetto Motorsport duo of Jade Edwards and Mike West, van Nederveen had looked on course to follow the pole sitters to the finish – who were largely dominating proceedings – before a gearbox issue sadly scuppered their chances during the pit stop phase.
Going on to inherit top spot in the latter stages, van Nederveen was wheel-perfect for the remainder of the contest to take victory ahead of SVG Motorsport’s Neil Wallace and Ian Astley and his Datum team-mate Marco Anastasi.
Elsewhere, three of Caterham Motorsport’s five championships continued their 2023 campaigns by producing a quite sensational show of close-quarter racing.
Just 0.011 split the top two in the opening Vertex Caterham Roadsport Championship bout as Edward Cozzi edged Ben Timmons TO the chequered flag. Timmons would have his moment on the top step of the podium however as he charged to victory in race two.
Freddie Chiddicks took a clean sweep of victories in the Mission Motorsport Caterham Seven 270R Championship whilst Domenique Mannsperger, Harry Cook and Lars Alexander Hoffman shared the spoils in the Motul Caterham Seven 310R Championship.
To view the full classification of results from all sessions at Silverstone, CLICK HERE.
Both race days around the Grand Prix layout can also be re-watched on the BARC’s official YouTube channel HERE.