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Hagerty Radical Cup UK Round 5

A report from Round 5 of the Hagerty Radical Cup UK at Circuit Paul Ricard

27th & 28th July 2024

Five years after Chris Lulham debuted at the home of British Motorsport, taking victory in the British Formula 4 Rookie class, the Hagerty Radical Cup UK championship leader dominated at the FORMULA 1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX track – taking a double victory, but it wasn't a clean sweep as Lulham faced tough competition from Mexican prototype driver Ian Aguilera who made a one-off appearance in the series.

Race 1

It was debutant Ian Aguilera who secured pole for race one on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, just 0.019 secs ahead of Lulham. As the lights went out, Lulham enjoyed the better start despite the RAW Motorsport driver having the inside line - however chaos quickly ensued as the field arrived at Copse for the first time, which was enough to deploy the Safety Car.

“I got the lead as I was really committed at Copse on the outside, but I think I hit a cone on the Vale, damaged the splitter and lost some downforce, making it hard turning right,” said Lulham.

The green flags were waved for lap five, with seventeen minutes still on the clock. The Team Redline sim racer had more than a car's length advantage over Aguilera as he passed the control line to restart racing. Despite the Mexican's best efforts, he could not get within six tenths of the #20 Valour Racing Radical SR3 XXR over the remaining nine laps. Converting silver to gold, Lulham crossed the line to take his 12th victory of the season, with a lead of 0.932 seconds, having secured the fastest lap of the race: 2:04.165.

Race 2

Having again started next to pole position, there was little to split Aguilera and Lulham at the start of race two. John Macleod nearly made it three-wide into the first corner, with Lulham's outside line followed by teammate Chris Preen. Once again taking the outside line into Turn 1, Lulham edged ahead but conceded the lead as the leading pair emerged from the Maggots-Becketts complex. “I tried the outside at Copse and the inside at Becketts and we were still side by side. But I was on the dirt exiting Becketts and had to back off before a good run on the Hanger Straight, but he [Aguilera] defended tightly,” Lulham noted.

With the lead pair soon in the clear, and Aguilera's advantage growing lap-on-lap - having taken new Hankook tyres for Race 2, and no apparant threats from behind, it was looking that Lulham would have to accept his runner-up status. With ten minutes of racing remaining, the Safety Car was scrambled for Lulham's teammate, Kristian Brookes, who spun off at Chapel. But it picked up Joyce in fifth, before finally heading the leaders after four laps under caution, making it a one lap sprint to the flag, with Aguilera taking victory, from Lulham - less than a second behind, and Valour Racing teammate Chris Preen completing the podium.

Race 3

The final race of the weekend was, as always, the partially reversed grid race, with Chris Lulham starting his #20 Radical SR3 XXR twelfth. Despite Adrian Hallmark starting on pole, it was Paul Denning that led out of Copse from fifth.

With Lulham and Aguilera sharing Row 6, those up front were always going to feel immense pressure form behind. The pair - now with one win a piece from the weekend, navigated the front of the field, including a spinning Rob Greenwood - to find themselves battling between them for second place through Silverstone's Maggotts and Becketts complex - less than 1km into the race. It was truly "elbows out" for both drivers, but Lulham got the better exit out of Becketts, and was now chasing down Denning on the Hangar Straight. The RSR Fangio driver defended well, until Lulham - hitting 217kph on the Wellington Straight sailed past Denning on the entry to Brooklands - to take the race lead before commencing Lap 2.

Aguilera managed to pass Denning on the following lap, but with Chris opting for new tyres for Race 3, the guest driver could not catch Lulham - who had built a 15.3second lead before the race was concluded by red flags. His lap of 2:03.924 was the fastest of the session, giving hm a bonus championship point, taking his total Silverstone points haul to 187 - with a 236 point advantage over current runner-up and Valour Racing teammate Luke Hilton.

You can view images from this event in our Gallery by clicking here.

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