Radical Cup Europe: Littlewood dominates and Andy Lowe takes a popular win at Paul Ricard

Practice and Qualifying

Friday dawned bright and sunny, which was not a given in the aftermath of a storm that blighted Thursday’s testing. In the SR3 Class American young-gun Luke Kendall (Valour Racing) was fastest in Official Practice, edging Marcus Littlewood (RSR) and Erlend Juan Olsen (Radical Norway) by the narrowest of margins.

The stage was set for a tight battle that would play out on the famous French track over the following days.

Come qualifying and the famous Mistral wind was now blowing down the Mistral straight, making for tough and gusty conditions sure to catch the newcomers out.

With qualifying split into two 20-minute sessions, each independent session determining the starting order for the two races to come, it would be a question of who could get the balance right and manage their tyres to set competitive laps in both sessions.

In Q1 Kendall lunged first, going fastest, until Littlewood set the pace on Lap 3. Olsen edged Kendall, Lowen Stephens (RJ Motorsport) entered the fray, and then Kendall went fastest again. Littlewood responded with a 2:08.574, giving himself half a second of breathing space, and then went faster again, dipping into the 2:07’s for the first time with a 2:07.931. Kendall fought for second but was eight-tenths off the pace, ahead of Olsen third fastest and Stephens fourth.

With just two sets of Hankook slicks available for the entire weekend, the front-runners all elected to tackle Q2 on the same set. Littlewood was initially off the pace, with Kendall, Stephens, Olsen, John Macleod (RSR) and Brian Huang (RJ Motorsport) all emerging as challengers. Littlewood, Olsen and Stephens had laps disallowed for track limits, and on the last lap of the session Kendall set a string of purple and PB sectors to go fastest with a 2:08.124. It was a sure thing, but Littlewood, half a lap behind, pulled the rabbit out of the hat and found a 2:08.065 as the chequered flag flew, earning double pole starts for the two races.

Analysis of the timesheets revealed how startlingly well-matched the pair were – their fastest times were almost identical in Sector 1, Kendall with the definite edge in Sector 2, and Littlewood with the advantage in Sector 3, just 43,000th of a second quicker overall.

Qualifying Live Stream here.

Race 1

After such an intense qualifying battle and with Littlewood and Kendall both starting from the front row, the sprint to Turn 1 would define the opening salvo.

Kendall got the better start but found himself on the outside, and by Virage du Camp, Littlewood was through. Kendall’s defence of an attacking Olsen and Stephens gave Littlewood the opportunity to form a one-man breakaway, and by the first tour of the Mistral Straight, he was away.

Kendall set to work turning fast lap after fast lap, setting purple sectors aplenty as he chipped away at Littlewood’s lead. The top two had the speed and were in a class of their own.

In the midfield, a fierce battle was emerging for the lead of the Fangio class, for drivers aged over 50. Amir Feyzulin (North Motorsport) had the advantage by the slenderest of margins, but at half race distance John Macleod took the lead with a daring move.

Filip Svensson (Radical Sweden) was setting the outright pace in the Radical SR10 class, using the awesome turbocharged performance to storm down the Mistal and set the meeting’s fastest time of 2:06.096.

Hot on their heels was Jack Yang (Valour Racing) and Stephens, who made a strategic pass on Yang at Courbe du Garlaban.

However, all eyes were on Littlewood, who was putting on a masterclass display of speed. Even in the dying stages of the race and with a healthy lead that could only be lost, Littlewood was still setting personal best sectors, never putting a foot wrong, and lapping only a tenth off his fastest race time of 2:08.786.

Ross Board (RJ Motorsport) and Diego d’Ambra (Team RaceStreaming) were engaged in an amazing battle in the closing stages, with Board narrowly holding off d’Ambra.

Kendall’s challenge was over when the stewards issued a stop/go penalty for a mandatory pit stop under-time infringement, putting paid to any hopes of challenging Littlewood for the win.

On the last lap Stephens made a bold move on Olsen under braking into Turn 1, the pair scrapping hard over P2. Stephens couldn’t hold the position through Virage de L’Hôtel but kept hard on the tail of Olsen’s SR3 XXR, getting a nice tow down the Mistral Straight. The pair nearly made contact in the Chicane Nord but Stephens emerged with the run, and made it stick with a daring, high commitment move around the outside at Courbe de Signes. The move paid off, not only earning Stephens second place in the race, but also moving himself up to second place in the championship at that point.

Macleod held off Feyzulin to take the win in the Fangio Class, his second Fangio win of the season.

“Sausage, bacon, egg, and a Red Bull – if you want to copy that, I don’t recommend it!” was Littlewood’s podium reply when quizzed about his secret breakfast to enable such a commanding drive.

Olsen was more sanguine – “that was fantastic racing, clean racing, that’s what racing should really be like”.

Race 1 Live Stream here.

Race 2

The Radical Cup Europe faced similarly sunny conditions when the field lined up for Sunday’s Race 2.

The major difference would be the success penalty, an extra number of seconds added to the mandatory pit stop according to the finishing positions of Race 1.

With Littlewood and Kendall again sharing the front row, Kendall got the best start, but it was a daring move from Stephens down the inside at Turn 1 that would set himself up nicely for the following complex and see him emerge as the race leader by Virage de la Sainte-Beaume.

Feyzulin and Macleod were both making the most of the opportunities, but it was Andy Lowe (360 Competition) who would challenge them both to emerge as the Fangio Class leader at the end of Lap 1. His speed at this stage of the race would prove decisive in the overall result.

Filip Svensson was up to fifth outright in the SR10.

By Lap 2 Littlewood was up to P2 and hard on the tail of Stephens, pushing him into a mistake at Chicane Nord. Stephens still had the advantage but was desperately clinging on to the race lead and defending well, until he ran wide at Virage de Bendor, letting Littlewood through.

Littlewood, keenly aware of his impending success penalty, was pushing himself hard to build a gap in the clean air, even making a rare mistake and running on at Turn 1.

Svensson had caught him, eventually passing for the race lead. It was a fascinating battle, with the torquey SR10 having the advantage in acceleration and speed, and the lithe SR3 making up under braking and through tight corners.

Again, the battle in the midfield was fierce, with Huang, Feyzulin and Yang all trading places several times a lap but racing cleanly.

Littlewood emerged from the mandatory round of pit stops in fifth place, with Kendall fourth, the pair chasing down Sebastian Schou (STEP Motorsport), Macleod and Lowe.

Would they have enough time to catch the leading pack? And with Macleod and Lowe battling for both the Fangio Class win and overall race win, how much time would they lose fighting each other? Would Schou be there to pick up the pieces and claim the race win above them all?

Macleod made it hard for Kendall at Courbe du Garlaban, but Schou snuck through on Kendall on the run out of Virage du Pont, allowing Macleod some beathing space on the straight. Lowe used the opportunity to build a gap, still holding on to both the outright race and Fangio leads.

It was Kendall and Schou side-by-side into T1, their fight not only letting Lowe and Macleod get further away but giving Littlewood the chance to catch them all.

A lap later it was Kendall, Schou and Macleod going three-wide into T1 in a breathtaking display of daring and racecraft. Schou ran wide, Kendall got the move done, and Macleod backed out, giving the kids some space to protect his own race.

Schou and Littlewood both got Kendall, and the pair were chasing Lowe down hard. Littlewood had the pace, but Schou was defending keenly, and he simply couldn’t get through.

On the final lap Littlewood took Schou at Turn 1 and set about chasing down Lowe, but even by the Courbe de Signes it was unclear if he’d have time to catch him.

The chequered flag flew and Lowe held out for a popular win, with Littlewood just 14-seconds shy of clean-sheeting the Paul Ricard round.

Race 2 Live Stream here.

Littlewood leaves Paul Ricard as the clear championship leader, with a 49-point lead over Schou/Strømsted and Olsen. John Macleod now leads the Fangio class, 20-points clear of RJ Motorsport’s Jahid Fazal-Karim.

The Radical Cup Europe resumes on July 1 for Round 4, when the series heads to the Nürburgring, again supporting Creventic at the Michelin 12H Nürburgring 2026.

Full results and championship points here on the Radical Cup Europe website.

Paul Ricard image gallery here.