Round Two Race Report

The second round of the 2023 Trackday Championship season took place on May 20^th at the fabulous Trac Mon. TDC made it’s debut at the circuit in 2022 and excitement for the return this year has been high. With glorious sunshine beaming down on the track to greet TDC competitors, anticipation levels couldn’t be higher to get the round started.

As the morning’s qualifying roared into action, the competitiveness of the TDC field was once again highlighted with a number of cars exchanging fastest lap times. Team Rebbieha, Another Level #20, TSC Racing and Unique Racing #89 all enjoyed brief spells at the top of the early timing sheet, before the Lotus Elise of Johnathan Mee (Another Level #13) improved to set the benchmark time. It looked for a short while as if Another Level #13 was going to secure pole position, however Steve Summers (Datum Motorsport #3) had other ideas. With roughly ten minutes left in the session, Datum Motorsport #3 recorded a stunning 1:14:413 which was enough to put the round one winner on pole position for round two. Summers would be joined on the front row by Mee, ahead of TSC Racing, Unique Racing #89 and Datum Motorsport #7. Se7en Motorsport’s Stewart Donovan bested class C at the season opener at Silverstone and the Toyota Celica driver continued that fine form at Anglesey by securing class C pole position, in front of PRO-AM Racing’s Kemp/Harvey duo and Deadslow Motorsport’s Baxter/Howells. A fabulous turn of pace from KEW Technology secured pole position in the ever-competitive class D, with Scuderia Dave and Fiesta Clubracer rounding out the top three.

The Welsh sun continued to shine as the second installment of TDC in 2023 got underway, particularly on polesitter Datum Motorsport #3 who got off to a tremendous start. An excellent getaway for fellow Datum Motorsport driver Mick Presland slingshot the #7 car into second, while Se7en Motorsport #112 and KEW Technology maintained their status at the head of classes C and D. Another Level #13’s Johnathan Mee recovered from a poor opening lap to retake second from Datum Motorsport #7 by the end of the fourth lap. Throughout each class constant jostling for positions was occurring as drivers tried to establish themselves as high up the order as they could before the pit window.

The pit window would cause a huge shift in the direction the race result was taking, as leader Datum Motorsport #3 incurred a one lap penalty for a short pit stop. With this penalty, the race for overall victory blew wide open and there were multiple cars who were keen to capitalise. In the end it was Datum Motorsport teammate Mick Presland (#7) who profited most, taking the checkered flag first to win the second round of the 2023 season. Presland had put in a solid performance throughout the weekend and was duly rewarded with his first Trackday Championship victory. Unique Racing #89 had also shown consistent pace throughout and Pottinger/Palk were compensated with the second step of the podium – finishing only 0.263secs ahead of third-placed Ben Grewcock (Team BG). Datum Motorsport #3’s Steve Summers came home fifth overall – a fantastic effort after receiving the penalty.

Se7en Motorsport’s Stewart Donovan’s excellent start to the 2023 campaign continued with victory in class C, showing a great mix of pace and racecraft. PRO-AM Racing earned their second class podium in as many races by finishing second in C, just a few seconds in front of Wolf Motorsport’s Chris Reade – who climbed from seventeenth on the grid to finish tenth overall. KEW Technology’s Sycamore/Hill impressively lead all but four laps on their way to class D victory. Scuderia Dave ended a strong day of racing in second place, while the final step of the class podium belonged to the Ginetta G40 of Jon Dundee (Driven Motorsport). Congratulations to all!

Competitors will not have to wait long for their next fix of Trackday Championship, with the third round only a few weeks away.

Bring on Snetterton!