RACE REPORT DONINGTON PARK

Equipe MG Cup

A strong MG Cup field got to start – and finish – the day’s race action and delivered two great races. Chaz Ryles was on pole for race one but it was the Rover 220 Tomcat of Stuart Tranter that got away the best from the front row, Ryles losing ground and tumbling down the order on the opening lap.

Tranter pushed hard from the start and opened a gap as a train of cars battled for second, Stuart Emmet’s ZR170 losing that spot to Rhys Higginbotham on lap two with three other cars right with that pair. The driver on the move was Eliza Seville, running in class D for the first time with slicks on her MGF, and she worked her way through to third and set about closing on Higginbotham who had pulled a small gap.

Together in the final laps, the pace of Higginbotham and Seville brough them close on Tranter, and Seville claimed second with a fine move at the chicane on to the pit straight with two laps to go. Tranter had enough in hand to take the win, Seville second from Higginbotham. Dennis Robinson was fourth having dropped to seventh early in the race, while Ryles recovered to finish ninth.

The sun was finally out for the second race and Tranter was on pole with Seville alongside, and again led on lap one, but this time with much less of a gap from Seville and Simon Lowery’s ZS180. Higginbotham tagged onto the back of the lead trio and in the early laps they were all close, Tranter able to pull away in places only to be reeled in later in the lap.

Seville pushed hard but couldn’t make a clean move, the Rover quick down the straights, the MGF better on the brakes and mid-corner. Ryles worked his way through to make it a five-car group by lap seven, but a lap later the safety car was out with a car stopped at Coppice.

Racing resumed for a final two laps, Tranter able to stay clear to continue the 2024 theme of Equipe MG Cup double winners. Seville second and taking her class from Ryles and Higginbotham, Lowery claiming fifth.