SUPER SOUSTER CLINCHES SR1 TITLE IN DONINGTON DECIDER

29 Radicals - including 10 SR1s - assembled to tackle the 4.003 km circuit, featuring 36 metres of elevation change. As the circuit rubbered in on a crisp Saturday morning, Ball, Souster and George Knutton traded times for SR1 pole. However, James Bark’s stunning last-minute effort stole pole from Souster by 0.110 seconds, with Ball a further tenth adrift.

Newly-crowned Class B champion Pedro Oliveira suffered a session-ending crash.

“I went head-first at about 100 miles an hour into a tyre barrier,” Oliveira explained, “I’m fine - but the car is in bits and we won’t be able to get it fixed. That is my weekend over, unfortunately.”

Before Oliveira’s accident, RJ Motorsports’ Ben Higgs sat atop the Class B leaderboard to take his maiden class pole. “I’m over the moon!” he said, grateful for the team’s development this year.

RJ team-mate and former Ligier European Series driver Alin Fulga slotted in behind Oliveira, tailed closely by Sam Venning - two weeks after an impressive outing here in the Fine Cut Radical Cup. The quartet were separated by just 1.019 seconds.

In Class A, Charles Hall held an early advantage over Leon Morrell, but with six minutes remaining, Morrell turned the tables to claim overall pole by 1.3 seconds, ahead of Aaron Rose in third.

Lunchtime sun brought much-needed warmth to the Leicestershire venue where the 29-strong field thundered into Redgate. Hall swept around the outside of Morrell to claim the lead, meanwhile in the mid-pack tussle, Sherif Hosny ran into the back of Fulga, causing the pair to spin off and drop to the tail of the field.

Ball launched from 18th to 11th on the opening lap, surpassing LM Racing team-mate Bark and Souster among the SR3 traffic. Another flying starter was Nottinghamshire-based Ross Drew, climbing from 13th to fifth before Venning edged ahead out of Coppice on lap two.

Bark regained the SR1 lead when he slipped past Ball at the Melbourne Hairpin with 17 minutes to go. Ball contested through Redgate and down the Craner Curves while Souster set the fastest SR1 lap, reeled them in, and snatched second from Ball.

Hall’s charge for the win unravelled as he pulled over beside the pit exit, suffering his third retirement of the season. However, the defining moment came when Mark Grason’s stranded SR3 RS triggered a prolonged safety car period.

The safety car peeled into the pit lane with just four minutes remaining. With a mix of lapped cars out of position, chaos ensued. In a three-way Class B lead fight, Venning dropped 11 places on the grass while attacking Higgs at Coppice, and Drew pulled off to retire.

“The gap opened and as I hit the throttle, I lost drive,” Drew said, “It turns out we’ve broken a driveshaft. Annoying, gutting, gonna be the best result of the year, potentially.”

Among the fray, Bark emerged in fifth overall, tailed by Ball and Souster. On the final lap, Ball passed Bark to take class honours and keep his championship hopes alive into race two.

Meanwhile, Higgs held firm to claim his maiden Class B victory ahead of Barry Liversidge and Ian McDonald. Fulga recovered well to finish fifth in class, despite the Romanian being spun down the order early on. “It was an interesting day for sure, pace was there, result not ideal though,” he said afterwards.

Morrell clinched his seventh victory of the year to seal second place in the overall championship, while Rose and Ian Charles completed the podium.

With curfew looming, race two was cut from 25 minutes to 22. Morrell and Hall shared the front row again, while Souster led the SR1 contenders from 15th. Drew fixed the driveshaft ahead of race two and lined up 13th overall.

Class B returnee John Davis spun on the green flag lap, further delaying the start procedure. With just shy of 17 minutes on the clock, the field launched towards Redgate. It was another great start from Hall who claimed the lead before he even hit the brakes.

Hosny found more opening-lap strife when his RJ Motorsport SR3 cut out, prompting a short safety car period.

As the green flag flew again, Hall maintained his lead. However, Morrell responded with a new lap record - 1:28.228 - beating Shane Stoney’s previous record by three tenths. Higgs rebuilt his lead over Venning and Fulga.

Knutton’s early pace saw him pass Souster and break a 4.3-second class lead while they managed traffic. As the race progressed, however, Souster’s relentless pace allowed him to catch and fight the #45 ABV Motorsport SR1 on the final lap.

Knutton crossed the line first, but a two-place penalty promoted Souster to the top step and wrapped up the SR1 class championship from runner-up Ball, with Knutton completing the podium.

Another solid race from Bark yielded fourth, while Scott Lear’s fifth place helped secure third in the championship: “P3 in the championship is very deserving for the effort and stress and drama that has existed all year,” he said, “I’d have been snookered on my own. We’ve had no car problems, no tech problems.”

Higgs drove another superb race to claim a second class victory. Venning held off Fulga at the line for second, securing fifth in the Class B championship ahead of Drew, who came home fifth behind Liversidge.

Up front, Morrell walked away with the lap record, while Hall took his fifth victory of the season, closing the curtain on the 2026 Radical Club Challenge UK season in style.

Race report by Kip Morgan for Radical Motorsport