Cheshire local Joe Marshall remains unbeaten in the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB this year after an imperious hat-trick at Oulton Park.
Changeable weather and safety-car interventions proved little obstacle for the Team Parker Racing driver who led every racing lap and extended his overall winning streak to nine.
“Motorsport isn’t usually like this so I’m just enjoying it while I can,” reflected Marshall, whose 12 career wins surpass 2025 champion Tom Bradshaw’s previous record of 10.
Marshall’s local experience helped identify the moment to switch to slicks on a wet-but-drying track in qualifying. Only Ethan Hammerton (Graves Motorsport), less than a tenth back, was within two seconds of his benchmark as others floundered. Marshall’s team-mate Joshua Rogers, second in the points heading into the weekend, elected to stay on wets, while Donington double pole winner Sam Harvey reverted to wet rubber after a couple of laps slithering around on slicks.
It left them stranded in sixth and eighth but at least Rogers had an extra set of slicks for the races. While Marshall ran old tyres in the opener, Rogers used his fresh rubber to jump straight to fourth before picking off third qualifier Chris Bingham and setting fastest lap as he hunted down Hammerton.
Hammerton (l) and Kyle-Henney also enjoyed a strong event
Photo by: JEP
When Rogers dived inside at Knickerbrook, Hammerton was sent into a spin and left beached, earning the Australian a reprimand. The resulting safety car eliminated Marshall’s 3s lead but he had enough in hand to hold Rogers at bay.
Marshall stormed to an 8s victory over Hammerton in a calmer race two, setting a new lap record that even managed to satisfy the exacting standards of driver coach Scott Malvern. “They put the gap to P2 on the [pit] board and it just kept on egging me on to go even faster,” admitted Marshall. “My sector one hasn’t been good all weekend. Scott’s been telling me, ‘You need to do this, you need to do that,’ and actually I nailed it on my fastest lap, so he was happy about that.”
Marshall scampered away by a second a lap in the finale before a safety car pegged him back. But neither Hammerton nor Clean Racing’s triple podium finisher Matthew Kyle-Henney could challenge.
Disastrous Sundays for Rogers, ruined by having to pit after gearbox problems early in race two, and Harvey, track-limits penalties and getting tipped into a spin, mean Kyle-Henney and consistent finisher Dan Zelos are now Marshall’s closest points challengers, albeit with under half his total.
“It’s just having confidence in the car,” offered Marshall on his secret of success. “I’ve gelled really well with the car now. The team’s done a fantastic job and I’m happy to push 100% every single lap, all the way until the chequered flag.”
Triumph and Datsun star as older tin-tops entertain
Osborne’s Triumph was a double winner in non-championship Oulton races
Photo by: JEP
Mark Osborne’s Triumph Dolomite Sprint took a double top, while Datsun duo James Everard and Jonathan Corker also starred as tin-tops of yesteryear entertained the modern-day touring car crowd.
With no points available for the three non-championship Pre-’83 Touring Car races, reigning champion Corker shared his unique Datsun 510 with fellow Yorkshireman Everard. That limited their laps in Saturday morning’s wet qualifying session, leaving Everard on row six for the opening race.
Everard charged to fourth within four laps, behind the V8-powered Rover SD1s of Jerry Bailey and Nick Williamson, and Tom Harvey’s Ford Escort Mk1. Williamson suddenly slowed when his distributor’s rotor arm failed, baulking Harvey, letting the Datsun snatch second and giving Bailey some breathing space. However, Everard reeled in Bailey as the big Rover’s tyres wilted, grabbing the lead on the penultimate lap despite an increasingly rattly gearbox.
Without suitable wet tyres, Osborne also qualified down the order but charged to fourth ahead of the misfire-stricken Opel Kadett of Harry Hickton, doubling up from Mini Challenge.
A flying start propelled Osborne to lead the sequel, leaving Harvey, Bailey and Hickton to contest second. They were joined by Corker, with replacement gearbox, from the back of the grid. Harvey dropped out (oil pressure) and Corker grabbed second but could not dislodge Osborne from the Welshman’s first win since 2019. “My extra eight valves helped,” admitted twincam-powered Osborne.
Corker’s transmission failed before the finale started but Nic Grindrod and local man Neil Philpotts joined the lead battle. Grindrod’s Escort was on its third gearbox, while Philpotts missed the earlier races having had to rebuild the head on his Mitsubishi Lancer’s turbocharged motor.
Williamson and the all-action Philpotts each had spells pressurising Osborne before dropping back as their mounts began to overheat. So the Dolly triumphed again, with Philpotts beating Grindrod to second on countback after a red flag truncated the action.
Gornall grabs maiden Mini wins
Gornall profited from Porter’s problems to win twice
Photo by: JEP
A costly mistake by Josh Porter opened the door for former Mini Challenge Trophy frontrunner Sam Gornall to secure his maiden JCW class victory in the Oulton opener. And it was Gornall on top again after the pair locked horns a day later.
Polesitter Porter (Excelr8 Motorsport) threatened to repeat his Snetterton double, but retired from the lead of the opener after clipping a tyre stack, which bent his steering rack.
Beneficiary Gornall, who has suffered his share of misfortune this year, said: “It was a long time coming. I knew I had the pace to do it.”
The Pro Alloys Racing driver even bettered Porter’s two-year-high winning margin from Snetterton, finishing 7s clear with the rest of the pack bottled up behind Joe Tanner (NAPA Racing) who suffered a broken splitter.
Porter led race two until Gornall challenged at Knickerbrook on lap three of an eventual 13. The pair made contact and Porter speared off into retirement. The clerk deemed neither driver predominantly to blame so Gornall doubled his win count and lifted himself to third in the standings.
Charlie Hand was second after rounding two cars at the start and then demoting Tanner to third. Fourth for Tom Ovenden, added to third a day earlier, extended his points lead over a subdued Max Edmundson, who managed no better than eighth.
Scottish Legends proves as close as ever
Pape was one of three drivers to secure a double Legends win
Photo by: JEP
A huge field of 33 Scottish Legends cars joined the British Touring Car bill for the first of two occasions this year. And, while the surroundings may have been unfamiliar for many, the competition remained as close as ever – with winning margins twice under 0.01 seconds.
One-time National series champion Stephen Treherne was the Saturday star. Driving Jonty Norman’s car, he charged from row 18 to pip Daniel Clark for victory in the opening heat by just 0.006s. He took third behind points leader Matthew Pape and star rookie Angus Scrivener in heat two, then edged Michael Weddell by 0.007s in the final as six cars were covered by less than eight tenths.
An excursion dropped Treherne out of contention in Sunday’s first heat in which Pape managed to break away for a 2.8s victory over Ben Mason. Reigning champion Mason locked up and spun into the gravel at Lodge while leading a wet second heat but produced an incredible recovery to second, just 0.177s down on maiden winner Scrivener.
Teenage karting graduate Scrivener took a second win in Sunday’s final. He charged from row 11 to lead just after half-distance then held off Pape by 0.038s as Treherne came through to third.
Treherne headed pack of battling Legends home in very close second race
Photo by: JEP
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– The Autosport.com Team
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