End-of-the-day sunshine contrasted with the rain experienced in the earlier races.
Teddy Wilson and Ben Stone reigned triumphant in the third race of the Prototype Cup at Silverstone. An impressive and calculated performance from both drivers saw the TGM with Private Leads car take the chequered flag over 11 seconds clear of second place.
Starting from P2, Charles Hall in the number 77 Mittell Cars Praga jumped Jessica Hawkins on pole position into Copse corner. With a more compromised line, Hawkins was quickly caught by Teddy Wilson in the number 4 TGM with Private Leads car.
Coming out of Chapel, Wilson took a wider line than Hawkins, giving him a quicker run onto Hanger Straight and pulled out of the slipstream to dive down the inside into Stowe. Hawkins conceded the position and followed the number 4 TGM with Private Leads car into Vale with Rubin Stanislaus close behind.
Having struggled for pace compared with the leaders in race two, Ruben Stanislaus appeared far more comfortable in dry conditions and kept with the number 11 University of Wolverhampton Racing car. Unfortunately for the Idola Motorsport team, a mechanical failure forced Stanislaus to retire the car on the inside of Becketts corner on lap 3 and Rodolfo González was match his inaugural win from race 1.
Jessica Hawkins and Teddy Wilson began working to close their 2-second gap to Charles Hall in the number 77 Mittell Cars Praga. Hawkins set the fastest lap while she applied the pressure on Wilson. Responding to the University of Wolverhampton car, Teddy Wilson started pulling away from Jessica Hawkins and set multiple fastest laps including the first sub-two minute lap of the race in his pursuit for the lead.
By Lap 6, Wilson had caught the back of Charles Hall and initiated his attacking pressure. Impressively, Hall matched the 1:59.8 lap time posted by Wilson on Lap 7. Coming down the Wellington Straight on lap 8, Teddy Wilson was just a car length behind in the slipstream and made a bold move under braking into Brooklands. He positioned the car to the left and kept a tight line round the long left-hander to take the lead from Hall.
Crossing the line, the gap was just 0.472 seconds as Charles Hall took a wider line into Luffield, giving him a superior exit in the slipstream of Wilson. With this, he took another wide line into Copse and positioned the number 77 Mittell Cars Praga to the outside of the number 4 TGM with Private Leads car. Using the additional speed, Hall put himself onto the inside line for the entry to Maggots, stealing the place back from Wilson. Wilson bravely kept to the outside into the corner, but slid into the Maggots right-hander avoiding the Mittell Cars Praga by a hair’s-width.
Into Village, Hall ran a little wide and took a tighter line into The Loop as a consequence. Wilson hit the apex of Village allowing him to position the number 4 car on a wider line into The Loop. As Charles Hall went defensive, Teddy Wilson stuck to his line and was able to undercut the number 77 car into Aintree taking the lead once again from Charles Hall. “Teddy gave me a good run. Had the lead for a little bit and I thought I was going to get away and go but obviously he’s a good lad. Little bit of a battle there and I just hadn’t got enough into Luffield” Hall commented after getting out the car.
For this race, only the number 14 Idola Motorsport and DW Racing Radical carried no success penalty; Will Stowell pitted on lap 10 for a driver change to Chris Bridle. Charles Hall pitted on lap 12 changing to Scott Mittell, Jessica Hawkins swapping with Shane Kelly on lap 13; Teddy Wilson came in on lap 14 to switch to Ben Stone. John Davis pitted on lap 12 but as the sole driver, stayed in the car for the remainder of the race.
Following the pit stops, the success penalties allowed the number 14 Idola Motorsport car driven by Chris Bridle to jump the number 11 Wolverhampton University Racing car during their pitstop and driver change to Shane Kelly.
John Davis in the Radical
Roughly twenty seconds separated each Praga and the Radical was two laps down. Chris Bridle and Shane Kelly began lapping faster than the two leaders and brought the gaps down to just 4 seconds separating second, third and fourth place. Shane Kelly also set the fastest lap of the weekend in any class with a 1:57.239 on the final lap of the race. Teddy Wilson and Ben Hall brought home the first win for TGM with Private Leads in 2023, “Yeah – couldn’t be happier really. That was the aim going into the weekend so to come out with that is brilliant” Wilson commented after the race.
John Davis finished 3 laps down on the leading Pragas in the sole Radical.
Words: Kieran Mogg, photos: Chris Valentine and Paul Cherry.