“It’s a technical one” said Robert Gillman, driver of the #6 Radical Prosport, describing the seaside island of Anglesey’s ‘Trac Môn’ Circuit on Saturday morning. With dramatic elevation change over a compact and technical 1.55-mile (2.494 km) layout, Anglesey both challenges and charms like no other circuit. This weekend featured particularly harsh wind speeds of 23-26 miles per hour - which was certainly noticed by the veterans, returners and newcomers this weekend…
REPORT: SUN, SEA AND SPECTACLE FOR RETURN TO ANGLESEY
Leon Morrell Racing claimed a slew of wins across all three classes this weekend as the Radical Club Challenge UK returned to North Wales. Pedro Oliveira dominated Class B - even dicing with those in Class A - while an expanded field of SR1s gave spectators a day of tight, diverse racing spectacle.
Martyn Ball claimed his first SR1 pole of the year in dominant fashion to place 10th overall, 1.5 seconds ahead of SR1 rival Scott Lear and the returning George Knutton. George and his brother, Darren, joined the Radicals in Anglesey after an 18-month absence.
Oliveira turned his weekend’s fortune around when he took the Class B pole just hours after an engine change following a fire during Friday practice. His SR3 RSX circulated the seaside circuit in 1:06.472, placing him third overall, accompanying his Leon Morrell Racing (LMR) team-mates for the third consecutive race meeting. Oliveira and Matthew Jones traded fastest laps over the session, with Oliveira taking pole by 1.4 seconds.
Following a five-year absence, Jones brought his British racing green SR3 RSX, “inspired by the Bentley Speed 8,” to the track this weekend. Despite the absence, he delivered brilliant lap times in qualifying to place second in Class B ahead of Ross Drew in his first outing of the year for David Drew Garages Racing.
Continuing his run of dominant form in 2026, Leon Morrell took another pole position in his Radical PR6, 1.6 seconds quicker than team-mate Aaron Rose who put his PR6 on the front row on his first visit to Anglesey Circuit. Oliveira filled the gap in third while Charles Hall completed an LMR top-four lockout.
Ball took a superb second SR1 class win of the season after extending the gap to Robert Souster. Souster said qualifying made the key difference: “We’ve qualified too far back, so there’s just too many cars in between us. So by the time I got into second, Martyn was six seconds or so over the road”. The gaps stabilised once the multi-class chaos had soothed, and George Knutton managed to complete the SR1 class podium in his first race of the year.
Oliveira spent the race following his Class A team-mates, and despite the differences in their cars, he learned a lot: “You can almost follow the same lines. On the back end of this track, I would actually think my car is faster.”
“Because my car has so much more aero - it’s heavier, it’s got better brakes - through that section of the track, my car’s actually a little bit faster!” Oliveira delivered a sublime Class B victory, with a staggering win margin of 39 seconds over Jones, Drew, Ben Higgs and Scott Marshall in an intense midfield scrum.
Higgs said: “It was good! I managed to make up a place and had a really good tussle with one of the Drew Brothers.”
“One of the more difficult things following a driver quite closely is the aero wash. Coming around turn three, [if] there’s no-one in front of you, you can probably do that flat or just a little lift, but with the aero wash, there’s quite a big lift because you’re getting a bit of understeer”
A great start from Hall saw him pass Rose and Oliveira - the trio briefly three-abreast around The Banking - following Morrell in formation. Over the next 25 minutes, Rose pursued Hall, winner at the last round at Silverstone, and seized an opportunity on the penultimate lap while the pair navigated traffic.
“I think I had the edge on him,” said Rose, the Leicestershire-based driver, “You can see where he's quick, and where he's got an advantage and where I’m quicker… If I had passed him earlier, I’d have pulled quite a big gap to him, I think”.
When the chequered flag fell, it was Morrell who took a dominant victory by 13.8 seconds over Rose and Hall, while Doug Carter finished fourth in an impressive return to the Radical Club Challenge following an off-season neck injury.
The gusts grew through the afternoon - and so too did the intensity. Race two kicked off with immediate drama as Carter, Gillman and Ian Charles were spun at the first corner. Meanwhile, a brake issue for Hall fought brake issues until his race ended prematurely “Gutted, really. Awful weekend,” he said, “On the straight, kept locking up, and in the hairpin, and it literally stopped and then locked. So I just thought, ‘let’s park it, not gonna finish that way’... Back to the drawing board!”
After surviving the early chaos and the resulting safety car period, the SR1 class battle heated up throughout the race, with George Knutton, Ball, Lear and Souster trading places. Lear, despite a late excursion, took home third place, while George and Darren Knutton took victory and the runner-up spot respectively in a seriously impressive return to the series.
Oliveira ran away with another class B domination, avoiding the first-lap drama unfolding around him, to stretch a 30-second gap by the chequered flag. The battle for second in Class B raged on, as Ross Drew defended against Higgs and Jones, lap after lap. During the tussle, Jones locked up in The Banking at turn two, putting his #99 SR3 RSX through the grass and temporarily losing a position to Scott Marshall.
Later on that same lap, Higgs took a keen dive on the inside of Drew at the Corkscrew, locking up and muscling his way past the bright orange machine to take second in class.
Morrell and Rose were the only remaining Class A cars left in the top 10, with a stable race at the front allowing their PR6s to finish first and second in class. Overall, it was a great day for Rose considering it was his first visit to Anglesey Circuit, while Morrell was proud to take his fifth win from six races this season. Chris Seymour took his first Radical Club Challenge podium of the year, celebrating with his LMR team-mates.
The Radical Club Challenge UK will return on 15th August to tackle the historic Silverstone International Circuit.
Race report by Kip Morgan.
Photography by Max Lovejoy.