REPORT: Geraghty fastest but Mutch converts at Oulton Park

A feature of the popular Supercar Pageant event, this weekend’s round would be a unique single-day encounter, putting emphasis on careful setup and perfect execution.

It was Valour Racing’s Cian Geraghty who qualified on pole for the afternoon’s 50-minute race, going just 0.481 secs faster than Mutch, with University of Wolverhampton’s Shane Kelly an equally close third.

“I had progressed from the previous day’s practice, but it was my first time here so it’s still a new experience,” said Geraghty. “The handling for mid push in the corners needed to be adjusted, so we will change it for the race,” Mutch added.

“We are still learning with the car and the setup, but we are gaining knowledge. We tried a lot in testing so that should help in the race,” Kelly explained.

There was a 1.3-second gap from third back to fourth outright, where Radical Cup Europe race winner Andy Lowe had claimed the Fangio Trophy pole with his 360 Competition SR3 XXR. “We need to get the set up right, as it wasn’t handling well in practice. But the changes we made for qualifying improved it,” he said.

North Motorsport’s Tom Hodge headed the next row, another making his Oulton debut. “Fairly happy with our car and the position,” he said.

Sixth best was the only shared car with Scott Marshall and Ryan Lindsay, but RJ Motorsport team mates Brian Huang and Matt Yard were only fractionally slower. “We made lots of progress in testing too,” said Marshall. “I still have a lot to do, but love it here,” Huang added.

“I had fresh tyres for qualifying and felt a lot quicker. I am very happy with the car, and this track is just great,” said Yard.

Just 0.177s behind Yard was the Tim Gray Motorsport run SR3 XXR of Sam Venning. “Better than testing and close to the top six, so happy,” he reckoned.

Byron Crawford was next up for Valour Racing and the only other Fangio Trophy runner for the day. “It’s a challenge but a good one,” he said. RJ’s Laura O’Connell completed the line-up and was delighted with her progress too. “I had a new seat, that was good and we made more progress too,” she confirmed.

As the lights went green at the rolling start, Geraghty initially led down the Avenue from his pole position start, followed by Mutch and Lowe. "Gordie had much better straight-line speed than me and drove past me along Lakeside and was ahead at Island,” said Geraghty.

Kelly led the chase in fourth, from Hodge, Lindsay and Huang, but as Geraghty tried to stay on Mutch’s tail, he came unstuck. “I went off at Old Hall on the second lap, dropped to sixth and really had to get my head down after that,” he admitted.

“Our changes had worked, so a step in the right direction, less wing, more speed and then I got away,” Mutch replied, after completing the second lap over four seconds up on Lowe, who had Kelly threatening his hold on second.

Hodge was clear in fourth, but by the end of the lap Geraghty had already retaken Huang and Lindsay, while behind them it was Yard, Venning, Crawford and O’Connell.

Geraghty soon caught Hodge too and was into fourth on lap three, with Lindsay threatening too. But it was race over for Huang after he went off and found the barrier, bringing out the safety car.

Two laps under caution and it was green again, with Mutch once again pulling well clear of the fight for second. As the pressure began to build on Lowe, Geraghty was poised to challenge too, but the battle had also allowed Hodge and Lindsay to close in.

Yard was running solo in seventh, but behind him Venning had Crawford edging closer.

On lap 10 Geraghty made his move and was not only into third at Kelly’s expense, he got Lowe too by the end of the lap. “It was close with Shane into Lodge, I moved over but put a wheel on the kerb, lost momentum and two places too,” Lowe explained.

It was now Mutch from Geraghty, Kelly, Lowe, Hodge and Lindsay, with the pitstop window approaching.

Venning and O’Connell were first in, but it was another two laps before the lead trio stopped.

While Mutch and Geraghty retained first and second, Hodge emerged third, from Marshall, Lowe and Yard, with Kelly well down. “It started okay, but after I lost third place to Cian I was behind Andy. It was still okay after the safety car but then I was stuck in downshift and had to retire at the end with brake problems too,” Kelly explained.

Mutch’s lead had been over 10 seconds at times, but he backed off considerably in the final laps, still taking his second win of the season by a comfortable 2.257 seconds.

Geraghty set the fastest lap of the race after the stops. “I was just going for it, I think I had the pace to win,” he admitted.

Hodge was delighted to be on the podium too. “I got Andy at the stops, I went when I was told to go and then was clear of him,” he explained.

Lowe had fallen behind Marshall too, after he had taken over from Lindsay. He soon retook fourth but had Yard closing in towards the end. “I found it very slippery at Lodge and Old Hall and knew Matt was closing in on me,” said the Fangio Trophy class winner.

Yard had his hands full too. “I had a better second half of the race. “I could see Sam closing but didn’t realise I was closing on Andy too,” he said.

Cresting Hilltop for the last time, Venning decided to make his move into Knickerbrook. “I went for him but spun. But if I hadn’t stalled twice at the pitstop, I would have beaten him,” he reckoned.

So Venning completed the top six, from Marshall, Crawford and O’Connell. A track limit penalty would cost Marshall one place. “I was right in there, held my own and loved it,” Marshall admitted.

“I was to slow out of the box but got more confident as the tyres started to wear. I was holding onto Sam too until I had a moment,” Crawford admitted, after securing second in the Fangio Trophy.

The Finecut Radical Cup UK season resumes its regular two-day format at Silverstone, when the field takes on the full Grand Prix circuit on August 1-2.

Full weekend results are available here.

The Oulton Park image gallery is available here.