Littlewood wins Barcelona thriller as Radical World Finals delivers a race for the ages

The fifth Radical World Finals – following Spring Mountain, Portimão, Yas Marina and Virginia International Raceway – was unique from the outset. For the first time, it shared a weekend with the final round of the inaugural Radical Cup Europe, organised in partnership with Creventic and supporting the Michelin 24H Barcelona.

That created a grid worthy of the World Finals name. Radical Cup North America SR3 champion Jonas Axboe – supported at the World Finals by North American Cup rivals Valour Racing and Cameron Racing – joined newly crowned European champion Littlewood and Finecut Radical Cup UK title rivals Gordie Mutch and Cian Geraghty on the same grid. Alongside them were racers from across Europe and North America, from emerging contenders to some of the most familiar names in Radical competition.

Littlewood arrived on Saturday with the European title already secured, despite a difficult Friday that had tested both driver and team. It was also his third Radical championship in as many seasons, following the SR1 Challenge title and the 2025 Radical Cup UK SR3 crown. With the championship pressure gone, his focus switched entirely to the 30-minute World Finals sprint.

He wasted no time making that clear. From the start, Littlewood charged through the field, gaining places immediately and putting himself firmly into contention before the race had settled into its rhythm. What followed was anything but straightforward.

A Safety Car compressed the field with less than 10 minutes to go and set up a tense restart, with the leading SR3s fighting for every metre and the faster SR10s adding another dimension to the battle. University of Derby’s Mutch fought his way back into contention and, as the laps counted down, Littlewood, Mutch and Geraghty were locked together at the front of the SR3 field.

At the chequered flag, Littlewood had done enough. Mutch finished just 0.272 seconds behind, with Geraghty only 1.038 seconds from victory in third. Luke Kendall was next, while Axboe completed his first World Finals appearance seventh overall.

Yet even those margins tell only half the story.

Gregg Gorski had crossed the line first on the road in his 425bhp SR10 after setting the fastest lap of the race, but a five-second track-limits penalty dropped the American to fifth overall. It nevertheless secured a first World Finals win, extending an extraordinary record for a driver who has stood on the class podium at every Radical World Finals since the event began.

His expected SR10 class battle with Radical Sweden’s Filip Svensson was cut short when an issue forced Svensson out after eight laps. For Gorski, there was little time to dwell on the result: later that day he swapped his Radical for HRT Performance’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car to compete in the Michelin 24H Barcelona.

The battles ran throughout the field. Paul Denning claimed Fangio honours, ahead of Morten Strømsted, while Pascal Bachmann completed the class podium. The Swiss racer, normally sharing his European campaign with wife Valerie, capped a season that had already included an outright Radical Cup Europe victory at the Nürburgring.

There were familiar faces everywhere. John Macleod, with more than 15 seasons of Radical competition behind him, was among the Fangio contenders before his race ended early after a first-corner collision with Radical Nederland’s Eddie van Dam, while Canada’s Robert Burgess finished 14th. A Radical stalwart who has attended every World Finals, Burgess’s presence in Barcelona was another thread connecting all five editions of an event that has now travelled across North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Few drivers illustrate the possibilities behind Radical’s Race the World philosophy better than 360 Competition’s Andy Lowe and Valour Racing’s Jack Yang. Yang has competed in both the United States and Europe this season, while Lowe has raced across the UK, Europe and North America and will shortly begin another campaign in the Radical Gulf Cup. Their seasons underline what the World Finals represents: not simply an international event, but a global racing platform that allows drivers to race wherever the calendar takes them.

That blend of champions, newcomers, long-time owners and international competitors is central to what the World Finals has become. A driver can race at home, progress through Radical competition and arrive at a Grand Prix circuit in Barcelona to line up against champions from the other side of the world. This year, Race the World was more than a philosophy; it was the grid itself.

The weekend finished overlooking Barcelona rather than a timing screen, as 130 drivers, teams, families and guests gathered at the W Hotel. Drinks on the terrace were followed by a four-course dinner, awards and a celebration of a weekend in which the racing had matched the occasion.

Five World Finals in, Barcelona set a new benchmark. Close, unpredictable and international to its core, this was one that will be talked about in Radical paddocks for years to come.