Catherham R400s Ready for Blast off at Donington

26 March 2004

Britain's most competitive sports car championship, the Powertrain Caterham R400 Challenge in association with Autosport, blasts back into action again next weekend (3/4 April) and the scene is set for some real track fireworks.

A field of 18 cars is expected at the Leicestershire circuit for rounds one and two, and the only thing which can be predicted with any degree of certainty is that the championship will provide the most exciting racing of the whole weekend.

There's a fresh new look to the Powertrain Caterham R400 Challenge for 2004, with a new race format and new rules aimed at spicing up the already frenetic pace.
The first R400 race of each GT/F3 weekend is a 15-minute sprint; race two is a more traditional 30-minute feature race where canny racecraft will count more than outright speed. A new tyre-limitation rule is in operation also: competitors may use only six Avon slick tyres per weekend, and only four of those may be fresh rubber.

John Gaw starts the season as favourite, the 33-year-old Scot who last year claimed third in the championship. He's switched teams to Tracsport, the squad which propelled Dan Stilp to the 2003 R400 crown. Gaw was the 2001 Caterham Academy champion and won one R400 round last season.

Alongside Gaw at Tracsport are ex-F3 driver John Ingram, whose Caterham credentials stretch back eight seasons, and Rick Pearson, who returns to Caterham competition after several years away racing Renault Clios in the UK and Europe.

Tracsport thus lines up as the most formidable looking team, but Hyperion Motorsport is far from short on talent either. Spearheading the Hyperion charge are 2003 R400 fifth-place finisher Will Mitcham, 2003 Roadsport Challenge champion David Dyson, and Caterham newcomer Kevin Williams. Alongside them at Donington will be Autosport journalist Nick Phillips, making his Caterham debut.

A further three drivers - Jamie Constable, Mike Cantillon and Daniel Mitchell - will be dipping in and out of the Hyperion squad as their Autosport Caterham Eurocup commitments permit.

Team Parker Racing, who won the UK & Euro crowns with Barry Horne in '02, are back with a vengeance also. Jon Barnes, a winner at the Nurburgring last year and a regular podium finisher in Britain towards the end of the '03 season, returns and is paired with a driver who was one of last year's regular Roadsport Challenge frontrunners - Dominic Paul. Newcomer Chris Holmes is the third man in the TPR squad.

Another multiple Roadsport race winner, Andy Demetriou, leads the Arrowstar team's attack, while Hertfordshire father-and-son racers Steve and Will Hodges will fly the flag for the PC-UK.Com team.

Rapid Suffolk 21-year-old Luke Stevens is another newcomer; he'll be at the wheel of championship regular Ross Maxwell's R400. Also scheduled to be on the grid is vastly experienced Caterham driver Paul Stephens, at the wheel of one of the Taylor's Foundry Motor Sport machines.

The Donington races will also open a new chapter in Caterham motorsport history, for a woman will grace the grid for the first time. Twenty-one-year-old Sarah Reader, who started competing - yes, in a Caterham - at 17, is the fast lady in question, her car prepared for the track by her father, Simon.

Meanwhile, two of last season's race winners - Pete James and Jason Dance - have joined forces at the last moment at Taylor's Foundry to form a two-car assault on the championship.

The Powertrain Caterham R400 Challenge in association with Autosport is one of the richest championships in national motor sport, with £7,000 in cash for the champion driver and a tyre prize fund worth in excess of £12,000. There is full Sky TV coverage, with stand-alone programmes, and the championship supports the British F3/GT Championship package.

See 2004 series calendar for the R400-supported British GT Championship

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