The 2026 Finecut Radical Cup UK returns to Oulton Park International this weekend for a unique single-day meeting, marking the second stop in the four-round series.
Competitors will have just a single qualifying session and single 50-minute race in which to make their moves this weekend, giving teams who can maximise every lap of every session a distinct advantage.
Radical Cup UK was last in Cheshire during its 2024 season, when Chris Lulham, now a race-winning member of Max Verstappen’s GT3 squad, enjoyed a near-perfect run of total domination.
This time around it is another cohort of young guns fighting at the front, with a three-way battle that emerged during the previous round set to resume in earnest.
Valour Racing’s Cian Geraghty came away from Brands Hatch with a single point championship lead over the Derby University’s Gordie Mutch, with Shane Kelly’s University of Wolverhampton training 20-points behind.
It was a win apiece for Mutch and Geraghty at Brands, but all three have a proven pedigree. Geraghty is in his first season of car racing after a successful karting career, and Mutch joins with plenty of GT experience and as the reigning 2025 Radical Club Challenge champion. Kelly also has vast experience in sports cars and single seaters.
North Motorsport’s Thomas Hodge’s second place in race two at Brands more than made up for a disappointing debut race, where a late spin dropped him down the order. Brands was his first weekend of car racing, too, and he sits fourth in the Championship.
360 Competition’s Andy Lowe is fresh from his recent overall win at Circuit Paul Ricard in the Radical Cup Europe. He was seventh in both races at Brands and fighting hard for the Fangio Trophy win, but he won’t have his primary Fangio contender John Macleod with him at Oulton, so will be looking to maximise his class points.
Byron Crawford sits third in the Fangio Trophy and seventh overall with Valour Racing, and was delighted to be in the top 10 in both of the opening races, given he only made his Radical debut at Donington at the end of last season.
Sam Venning is also new to racing this year. Run by Tim Gray Motorsport, he has been busy racing in the Radical Club Challenge and in Radical Cup Europe, and was eighth in race two at Brands.
It was an up and down start for RJ Motorsport’s Brian Huang at Brands. A late penalty dropped him out of the top 10 in race one, but in race two he was a strong sixth. He had a good run at Paul Ricard, and will be looking to continue his strong form.
It had been a couple of years since James Ockenden had raced a Radical, but he soon showed he had lost none of his pace in another Valour Racing car. He was fourth on the road in both races at Brands, but was disqualified from race two after track limit infringements.
RJ Motorsport has four more drivers to complete this weekend’s lineup. Lowen Stephens was another strong performer in race one at Brands, finishing sixth, but like Ockenden, fell foul of the track limits and was disqualified from race two.
Matt Yard joined the Championship at the end of last season but had a disappointing Kent weekend, while Scott Marshall shared a car with the experienced Ryan Lindsay.
Laura O’Connell was another debutant at Donington at the end of last season, but hopes improve with a full season under her belt in 2026.
Race day begins with a 25-minute qualifying session at 9am, and it’s lights out at 14:40 for the 50-minute race.