Sports Prototype Cup | Racing Series for Revolution, Radicals and Open Prototypes

Sports Prototype Cup season begins with inaugural Silverstone Grand Prix Open

Sports Prototype Cup season begins with inaugural Silverstone Grand Prix Open

 
 

29th May 2021

Race Report

  • Bradley Ellis, Sir Chris Hoy win Revolution Trophy races

  • Bonamy Grimes dominates Sports Prototype Open

  • Season begins with two 30-minute sprints at Silverstone

The Sports Prototype Cup held its first race of the year on Saturday, kick-starting the 2021 season with a pair of flat-out sprint races in the inaugural Silverstone Grand Prix Open. Bonamy Grimes, Bradley Ellis and Sir Chris Hoy all came away as winners.

Racing on the full Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, the Cup attracted its most diverse grid to date, with an array of cars from Ligier, Duqueine, Radical, Juno, CTR, Gunn and MCR all joining the field of Revolution A-One prototypes. This expanded range of Sports Prototype Open competitors made for a true Open class, running for the first time with no performance restrictions.

One driver to take advantage of the unrestricted Open class was Le Mans and endurance racer Bonamy Grimes, who left Silverstone with a perfect 1-1 result. Grimes put his Red River Sport Duqueine D08 LMP3 car on pole for both races and led from start to finish on both occasions to secure two Sports Prototype Open first place trophies.

Bradley Ellis and Sir Chris Hoy scored a win apiece in the Revolution Trophy, the class reserved for identical Revolution A-One prototypes. Throughout the day, the pair - and Ellis’ co-driver Andy Cummings - were in battle with Chris Short, Matt Brookes and Manhal Allos. The close-fought Revolution Trophy contest created some drama, too, when Hoy and Short duelled for the lead in Race 2. A rapid Short initially made a convincing move on polesitter Hoy at the Loop but lost his position to the Olympian a lap later. Short then spun out at Luffield, giving Hoy a healthy margin to the finish line. 

Hoy had started on class pole in Race 1, too, but dropped down to fourth on the opening lap. This allowed Ellis to assume a lead that the 2007 British GT Champion would hold onto until the chequered flag. 

In addition to his Race 1 Revolution Trophy victory, Ellis also won the B.R.M Speed Award for setting the fastest race lap in the Revolution Trophy. The Sunoco Driver of the Day Award was presented to Allos, who scored two top-six finishes after a break from racing of over two years. 

While Grimes scored both Open class wins, there was plenty of fascinating action unfolding close behind him. James Abbott gave the Evo version of the Revolution A-One its European race debut, finishing third in both races. The new version of the carbon fibre racer features a number of upgrades for the North American market, including a power increase to 420bhp, helping to put him on the front row alongside the top LMP3 car.

Michael Jenvey placed runner-up in both races with his Gunn TS6 prototype, which challenged Grimes’ LMP3 car throughout the opening race and finished just 0.546 seconds back. 

The Sports Prototype Cup is back in action on 16-17 July with a pair of 45-minute races at Portimao, before its second Formula 1 support race during the Italian Grand Prix on 10-12 September. The Cup then returns to British soil on 23 October at Donington Park.