Zandvoort April 12-14 2024 Race Report

Sports Prototype Cup thrills at Zandvoort

Race 1:

Pole for the 40 minute opener was taken by James Abbott, the multiple race winner returning to the Cup after a year away to debut the latest Revolution 500 EVO, with Jim Booth heading the new Open class in his Radical SR10.

At the start, Abbott led away from Peter Elkmann (sharing with fellow German Markus Zunker) and Marcus Short (sharing with brother Morgan) in their Revolution 500SCs pulling away from the rest of the grid early on in the race, creating a solid gap to the chasing pack. The fight for second place started soon after, as Marcus caught up to the German entry.

Jim Booth lost time with an excursion, which was a shame considering the strong pace he showed throughout the weekend. He recovered to score a valuable Open class result. Nigel Redwood (Revolution 427) and the Shorts took advantage of a safety car situation, pitting in the first half of the pit window.

The stops meant that Abbott dropped from P1 to P3, but quickly caught up with the field and started his drive back to the top, closing the five-second gap to Redwood to take back first place.

In the last five minutes of the race, Morgan Short moved up to second place, overtaking Redwood into Tarzan to finish a redemption race after a tough start to the weekend with a heavy crash in FP1.

Revolution Trophy Winner: James Abbott

Open Winner: Jim Booth

Race 2:

James Abbott started from pole position once again for the race 2 sprint, with Peter Elkmann starting P2 and Marcus Short in P3.

Everyone got away cleanly, and there was an entertaining fight in the first few laps to secure podium spots. The Radicals, led by Booth, were fighting each other among the Revolutions from the start. Meanwhile, Abbott’s performance came alive in the dry and sunny conditions, and he quickly created a gap.

Elkmann and Short managed to stay close enough to Abbott to take advantage of any surprises. Ultimately, Abbott ran out of fuel on the final lap after leading the race from start to finish, which meant Elkmann and Short moved up to P1 and P2. Luckily, Abbott managed to secure fifth overall and finish on the Revolution podium, with Booth taking Open honours after a close battle with the local Radical Netherlands entries.

Revolution Trophy Winner: Peter Elkmann

Open Winner: Jim Booth

Race 3:

For the final sprint race, Markus Zunker started from pole, with Morgan Short second and Jim Booth third.

Short charged into the lead on the first lap, with Redwood (now in a supercharged Revolution 500 EVO rather than the 427 he used previously) following in hot pursuit.

Radical NL leader, Jerome Greenhalgh (SR3) took a strong third overall, from Zunker. Redwood was the fastest car on the circuit in the final 10 mins, but didn’t threaten Short’s dominance. For the Short family it was a joyful moment after recovering from Friday morning’s crash to win on Sunday. Booth made it a clean sweep of the Open podiums, building on his season finale win at Le Mans last year.

Revolution Trophy Winner: Morgan Short

Open Winner: Jim Booth

The next race of the Sports Prototype Cup featuring the Revolution Trophy, Open and Light classes takes place on June 1st and 2nd at the majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit. This will be a different format, with a pair of one hour races, shared with a mix of prototype and GT cars, bringing an endurance element to the growing Cup.

Le Mans November 10/12 2023 Race Report

Morris takes the 2023 honours after a dramatic Le Mans finale

Racing at the home of prototype endurance racing, Le Mans brought a new format for the Sports Prototype Cup 2023 Grand Finale. A two-hour race followed by two 20 minute sprints brought an intriguing strategic element to the Cup. Two newcomers joined the Cup at Le Mans, Pedro Salvador (sharing with Joaquim Penteado) and Tim Tramnitz (sharing with Dominik Dierkes), who both made an immediate impact by qualifying first and second in their Revolution 500SC and Revolution 427 respectively. 

Round 9 

A damp but drying track meant all drivers chose to start on Goodyear wets. Penteado took an immediate lead from Milan De Laet, with Jim Booth passing Dierkes on lap one. On lap four, De Laet slipped ahead of Penteado in the battle for the lead.  After 15 minutes a safety car period allowed the order to settle. Unfortunately, Dierkes pulled out of the race, denying Tramnitz the opportunity to replicate his stunning qualifying performance. Booth, driving solo in the 40 minute sprint subclass running within the 2h race, used the safety car to his advantage for his mandatory stop. 

When the safety car pulled in, De Laet set a stellar pace on the drying track, pulling out a 12 second lead in just four laps. From the front runners, Penteado was the first to pit, handing over to Salvador.

De Laet pitted shortly after, handing over to Morris. The Cup battle had a new significance. If Morris kept the lead, he would be crowned at the top of the 2023 rankings. If Salvador passed Morris, the year-long battle would be settled in the afternoon sprint race.   

Morris rejoined 27 seconds ahead of Salvador.  The track was drying very slowly, so both Morris and Salvador chose to remain on wet tyres, but with 70 mins remaining there was a chance of a late switch to slicks. The battle came to a premature conclusion when Salvador retired at the 1h mark. Morris reeled off the laps to finish his stint, with De Laet taking over to take the flag. This meant Morris clinched both the Revolution Trophy 2023 and Sports Prototype Cup 2023 rankings awards with two rounds remaining, adding two more prestigious accolades to his list of career achievements.

Rounds 10 and 11

Once the overall rankings battle was settled in the two-hour enduro, two entertaining twenty minute sprint races added some spice to finish the season. In round 10, Morris was relegated to the back of the combined Cup and French Free Proto grid after an administrative issue. He charged through to win the Cup category to extend his tally to five wins in a superb season.

In round 11, De Laet was the fastest man on a very wet circuit. With just two laps to go a minor off beached him in the gravel, leaving a joyous Jim Booth to take his first Cup victory. After flying from the USA to race at Le Mans for the first time, the experienced Booth took a confident but sage approach to the treacherous conditions to stand atop the most famous endurance podium in the world.

Le Mans winners:

Qualifying:   Pedro Salvador

Race 1: Richard Morris/Milan de Laet

Race 2: Richard Morris

Race 3: Jim Booth 

Spa, October 14/15 2023. Race report.

Race 1: Penteado joins the Cup winners’ circle

A partnership with the French-based Funyo series made for a spectacular and varied prototype grid at Spa-Francorchamps. 

Richard Morris came into the weekend with the aim of a double win to secure his overall Cup rankings title ahead of the Le Mans November finale. In qualifying, his goal was helped by pole position, with co-driver Milan de Laet putting the Revolution 500SC a stunning 1.9secs ahead of the pack at his home circuit. 

An impressive second on the grid was Joaquim Penteado, his best ever Cup qualifying performance. Third was a debutant double act, with Olympic figure skater medalist Elvis Stojko sharing with Markus Zunker. 

At the start, Morris led, but the safety car  was deployed after the Radical RXC of Nagy Kabaz was stranded in the La Source gravel. Jim Booth, sampling a Revolution 500SC rather than his usual Radical SR10, made a stellar start to displace Zunker and Dominick Dierkes (Revolution 427) to move into third. Zunker had a spin on lap three and lost crucial time restarting the car. 

Morris was under pressure from Penteado in the early stages, before the Brit had a cruel retirement that denied him and De Laet a win. This drama left Penteado in the lead after the refuelling stops, with Jim Booth building confidence every lap on his Revolution debut, moving into a strong second place. Stojko was third and was impressively close to Penteado’s race leading pace on his Cup debut. 

It was a well-deserved and long awaited win for Penteado, who first raced in the Cup at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix support race.

Round 8 

Sadly, the Morris/De Laet car could not be repaired overnight, meaning that the title race was thrown wide open. With the Cup being awarded to the driver with the most wins, rather than a conventional points system, it meant that every driver on the grid now had a chance of overtaking Morris’ three season wins with one Spa race and three Le Mans races still to run. 

This unexpected twist added spice and tension to the race, which started in 5c ambient temperatures, some 20c cooler than Friday practice!

Penteado and Stojko lined up on the front row, ahead of the colourful mix of Radicals and fellow Revolutions. It was Kabaz in the Radical RXC Spyder who made the best start, but Penteado fended him off at the first corner. The safety car was deployed on lap two as Martin Lucas’ Radical was stranded in a dangerous place.  At the restart, Booth and Stojko got the jump on Kabaz to lead the chase of Saturday’s winner. 

At half distance, Penteado was enjoying a 20 second lead over Booth, but was entertaining himself by passing many of the Funyos that had started on a separate grid, 25 seconds before the Cup cars. Stojko was closing on Booth, before handing over to Zunker at the pitstop. Both Stojko and Booth received a 10 second penalty for a start infringement, leaving Penteado a clear run to victory. In addition to winning the Sports Prototype Cup, Penteado also had the satisfaction of leading teammate Booth over the line to take an overall 1-2 for the Revolution 500SC in a strong line-up of 28 prototypes. 

The double win for the Portuguese driver has launched him into second place in the driver rankings with three rounds remaining at Le Mans.

Overall top three: 1) Penteado 2) Booth 3) Stojko/Zunker

Rounds 9, 10 and 11 take place at Le Mans on November 10-12. 

Donington, June 18th 2023. Race report.

With the Radical Trophy not running at this event due to the clash with the BTCC-supporting Radical Challenge, the Cup had two classes at Donington. Sports Prototype Open and Revolution Trophy.

Race 1: Morris and Stanislaus power to class wins

Ruben Stanislaus took pole in the Open class in his Praga R1-T, building a strong lead on lap one. Richard Morris was Revolution pole sitter and led lap one from Joaquim Penteado, who had upgraded from a Revolution 427 to the supercharged 500SC for this event. Penteado was enjoying the additional power and closely matched Barcelona winner Morris.

Stanislaus powered to a dominant Open victory, but special mention should go to his teammate, Rodrigo Gonzalez, who had to change cars after qualifying and charged from the back to second in class (seventh overall) in a new Praga he was driving for the first time this weekend.Unfortunately, a spin beached him in the gravel, causing a safety car period.

Roger Green settled into a solid third in the Revolution Trophy (sampling a 427 after taking a 500SC to victory in the opening round of the year). When Penteado was forced to retire, this promoted Green to the second step of the podium, a position that could prove to be valuable in the full-season Cup Driver Rankings battle with race winning Morris. Nino La Rosa was a solid third, the 74 year old veteran taking a popular podium after flying from the USA for this event.

Race 1 Podium:

Sports Prototype Open class: 1st Ruben Stanislaus 2nd Rodolfo Gonzalez (all Praga R1-T)

Revolution Trophy: 1st Richard Morris (500SC) 2nd Roger Green (427) 3rd Nino La Rosa (500SC)

Race 2: Morris dodges Donington storms to head the rankings.

The celebrations of Richard Morris’ race one win soon turned into a drama. Stone damage had caused a water leak, and the Revolution crew worked tirelessly to repair the car for race two. They made it with minutes to spare, but the tension was still rising as dark clouds appeared over the circuit.

Stanislaus repeated his race one flying start, with Morris fending off Chris Hoy (Revolution 427). The Olympian was in fighting form in the opening laps.

Rain arrived on lap three. Penteado passed Hoy for second in class. By lap five the rain was bad enough for the slick shod cars to be 20 seconds off the pace, and the pit crews prepared for stops.

Da Rosa spun again at the exit of Coppice. Safety car was deployed, but Da Rosa restarted.

Stanislaus and Gonzalex both pitted, the Idola team crew servicing both Pragas with wets under the safety car.

A briefer than expected Safety car period meant the two Pragas were at the back, but on wets, setting the scene for a thrilling close to the race. However, the rain wasn’t settling on the hot track and the Goodyear slicks were still the tyres to have. Five laps later, Gonzalez came to the same conclusion and pitted back for dries.

Hoy was revelling in the damp conditions and re-passed Penteado for second, while Morris looked assured at the front. Penteado was the pacesetter in the closing stages, getting ahead of Hoy again and hunting Morris down. At the flag, Penteado was just fractions of a second behind Morris, whose double win leaps him to the top of the driver rankings.

Race 2 Podium:

Sports Prototype Open class: 1st Rodolfo Gonzalez 2nd Ruben Stanislaus (all Praga R1-T)

Revolution Trophy: 1st Richard Morris (500SC) 2nd Joaquim Penteado (500SC) 3rd Chris Hoy (427)

Silverstone, May 20th 2023.  Race report 

First time winners! Debut victories for Stanislaus, Stowell and Mitchell

Race 1: Mitchell and Stanislaus star

A sunny Silverstone Grand Prix circuit greeted a packed grid of 27 drivers competing in a combined Sports Prototype Cup and Zeo Prototype grid. 

Heading the Cup field for the start was the Open class Praga R1-T of Ruben Stanislaus ahead of series debutant Jonathan Mitchell, taking a stunning Revolution Trophy pole. The former historic and Caterham racer adapted to the supercharged 500bhp car very quickly after just a single test session.

Into lap two, Stanislaus led, pulling away from teammate, former WEC driver Rodolfo Gonzalez, with Mitchell leading the Revolution Trophy.

Barcelona winner, Richard Morris, (Revolution 500SC) was a couple of seconds behind Mitchell with the similar car of Evo magazine’s James Taylor doing battle with Will Stowell (Praga).

By half distance, Mitchell extended his Revolution Trophy lead over Morris. In the Open class, Stanislaus remained in control, battling for overall victory with Zeo leader Mike Jenvey. Stanislaus was four seconds clear of Gonzalez, who in turn was battling with the similar (but non-SPC) University of Wolverhampton Praga.

Another impressive Revolution debutant was former Radical winner, Nigel Redwood, who made progress from a lowly grid position to jump ahead of Taylor by lap eight.

Into the closing stages, a stirring battle for overall victory between the top two Zeo cars gave Gonzalez the opportunity to pounce on Stanislaus and snatch the Sports Prototype Open lead. A lap later, the battling Praga duo switched the order again. In the Revolution Trophy, Mitchell was now well clear of Morris in a truly dominant debut performance, with Redwood looking comfortable in third. Taylor was enjoying his return to Revolution racing in fourth place, with Penteado an impressive fifth in the first non-supercharged Revolution.

Race 1 Podium: 

Sports Prototype Open class:  1st Ruben Stanislaus 2nd Rodolfo Gonzalez 3rd Will Stowell (all Praga R1-T)

Revolution Trophy: 1st Jonathan Mitchell 2nd Richard Morris 3rd Nigel Redwood (all Revolution 500SC)

Race 2: Mitchell does the double, Stowell takes Open win

Race 2 saw Mitchell on the front row and well placed to repeat his Revolution Trophy win, just ahead of Stanislaus heading the Cup Open class. Prolific Revolution race winner, James Abbott, joined the grid for this race and there was much anticipation on how far he could climb from sixth. Likewise, Iberian LPC class champion, Roger Green, would take the start for the afternoon encounter, but from an out of position 18th.

At the start, Mitchell made a stunning start to take the lead from the pole position Zeo entry of Mike Jenvey around the outside of Copse. Abbott delivered an equally epic first lap to move into second place overall and in the Revolution Trophy.

In the Open class, Stanislaus was delayed in a first lap melee, losing a lot of time trying to restart. It set the scene for a stirring comeback drive for the Praga star. Green had a similar story, making up first lap places before being stranded at Vale before restarting.

After ten minutes, Mitchell led Abbott by three seconds. Abbott was engaged in a captivating battle with the Praga of Shane Kelly, which was registered for the Zeo championship, rather than the Open class. This meant that Will Stowell led the class in his Praga, with the recovering Stanislaus having lost 50 seconds with his first lap dramas, but already up to eighth overall. 

Two laps later, Abbott’s charge was curtailed by a long pitstop, leaving Mitchell in a very comfortable Revolution Trophy lead from Morris and Penteado. Will Stowell headed the Open class on his Cup debut.

Race 2 Podium: 

Sports Prototype Open class:  1st Will Stowell 2nd Ruben Stanislaus 3rd Rodolfo Gonzalez 

Revolution Trophy: 1st Jonathan Mitchell 2nd Richard Morris 3rd Joaquim Penteado

The Cup heads to Donington on June 18th, once again sharing the track with the Zeo Prototypes series, before rounds at Spa and Portimao.