Mitcham Back on Track to Defend his Caterham Title

06 May 2006

The delayed start to the Autosport Caterham Superlight Challenge season has played right into the hands of reigning UK champion Will Mitcham, who will now be able to make the grid for the opening rounds at Donington Park on 21 May in defence of his title.

Newlywed Will had all but given up hope of contesting more than a couple of races this year, but the cancellation of last month's Oulton Park rounds was just what he needed.

"I was moving house the weekend of Oulton and my car was far from ready," said 31-year-old Mitcham, from Bury St Edmunds, "so I resigned myself to missing the start of the season, then came the news of the championship's delayed start and it suddenly played right into my hands. I'm so excited."

Work to convert Mitcham's championship-winning R400 to Superlight specification is nearing completion at the Haverhill workshops of Taylor's Foundry, with a shakedown test planned for Snetterton next week.

"Obviously I am hoping that the car will be competitive right out of the box and that I have a good chance of retaining my title," added Will, "but some of the other guys have already raced their Superlights and will have an advantage at Donington. It's a quality field, too, and winning is not going to be easy."

Another 2005 Caterham champion, Jamie Constable, will also be in action. The Eurocup titlist will be using the event to test for June's Eurocup rounds at the Derbyshire circuit. Constable will be joining his swift Team Parker Racing running mate, 19-year-old Charles Bateman, at Donington.

Following his podium finishes last month at Oulton Park and Hockenheim, former Academy and reigning Roadsport Inter champion Guy Harrington will be hoping for further success at his home circuit as he bids to claim his third successive Caterham championship title.

Hyperion Motorsport will meanwhile be fielding at least four cars, including one for reigning Roadsport A Champion and former Formula Ford and F2000 title winner Graham Fennymore. Fennymore, who won 10 of his 12 UK Caterham races last year, will be hard to beat in his Ambitions Racing Superlight. Also lining up with Hyperion will be Donington R400 lap record holder Nick Payne and Roadsport graduates Bill Addison and Andrew Beaumont.

In addition to Derbyshire man Harrington, the other local talent at Donington will be Andrew Middleton, from Ashford in the Water, and Findern's James Gardiner. Fresh from his Eurocup podium success at Hockenheim, Ben de Zille Butler will also be in action, as will Caterham's top female competitor, R400 race winner Rachel Green.

Meanwhile, in the R400 class at Donington, there will be a four-way battle for honours between Williams F1 team engineer Paul Jepson and former Roadsport racers Pat Gormley, Stuart Dixon and Patrick Maher.

Backers for Caterham Motorsport's UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack.

See series calendars for all 2006 Caterham Championships

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