Three Bidding for R400 Crown at Thruxton

24 August 2004

With just four rounds remaining in the Powertrain Caterham R400 Challenge, the Bank Holiday weekend (29/30 Aug) double header at Thruxton will be crucial to the fortunes of the three drivers heading the queue for the £7,000 champion's prize.

Following his win at Oulton Park last month, Newmarket's Luke Stevens appears to have a healthy points lead over his chief title rivals, Jon Barnes and David Dyson. But with dropped scores taken into account, Stevens and Dyson head for Thruxton level-pegging, with Barnes just 11 points in arrears.

Stevens, just turned 22, scored his maiden R400 win at Oulton and has been super-consistent throughout his debut Powertrain R400 season. In fact the 2001 ARP Formula 3 champion has been on the podium seven times from nine starts with his Acre Jean-backed car and has yet to fail to finish a race.

Dyson - last year's Caterham Roadsport A-class champion - has demonstrated his pace on quick circuits with twin wins at Castle Combe in June. But the 40-year-old Mancunian has already failed to finish two races this season in his Hyperion Motorsport-prepared and Frasc-backed car; a further retirement could prove fatal to his hopes of another Caterham crown.

Twenty-year-old Barnes leads the Team Parker Racing squad to Hampshire, and the Southampton lad will be desperate for a little home-turf advantage. Since his Silverstone race victory in April Barnes has been on the podium only once and suffered dire electrical problems last time out, failing to finish the Oulton Park feature race.

Says Jon: "I need to win both races at Thruxton, and that's what I'll be going all-out to do. But Luke has a big advantage and David Dyson is breathing down my neck also, so I need to hope that they don't do too well. My car's engine has just been rebuilt, so I hope that that will help."

Barnes will be backed in the TPR squad at Thruxton by London-based triathlete Dominic Paul, joint fourth in the championship and a season-long contender for race victory, and by 17-year-old Chris Holmes - now sixth overall in his first season. The fourth man for Team Parker will be championship newcomer and driver coach Richard Fores.

The championship's third big team is Taylor's Foundry Motor Sport. A double winner at Snetterton courtesy returning Superlight Challenge front-runner John Gladman, TFM promises a strong line-up for Thruxton, headed by Suffolk youngster Will Mitcham, who shares championship fourth with Paul.

Another TFM runner is young Ollie Hancock, from South Warnborough, near Hook, who will be making his R400 debut just three days after his 17th birthday, making him the championship's youngest-ever competitor.

Also due to make his championship debut is Merrick Linnett, who will drive the Caterham Motorsport Club-backed R400 prepared by Colards Motorsport. Thruxton will also see the return of Matt Blyth to the championship.

Following this weekend's races the Powertrain Caterham R400 Challenge gears up for its grand finale at October's Brands Hatch Caterham Festival.
Backing for the championship comes from Powertrain Ltd, Autosport, Arch Motors, Bilstein, Comma, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Fairmont Insurance, Harrington Generators International, MG XPOWER, Mitchell Cotts, PTP and Stack.

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

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