Carbon8 Hyundai Coupe Cup Silverstone review

With bright sun casting a glow over the eighteen car field, the 2017 Carbon8 Hyundai Coupe Cup got underway on the 1.6 mile Silverstone National circuit last weekend. With some new faces amongst plenty of returning drivers, it was set to be a sensational start to the season and the racing definitely didn't disappoint.

The cars of Simon Miles, Will Taylforth, Alan Evans, Neale Hurren and Marc Brough

Qualifying

It was Jeff Alden and Kevin Middleton who set the initial pace, both of them were trading fastest times in the high one minute fourteen second mark. It took almost half the session for the two of them to be bettered as Alex Cursley leaped to the top of the timing sheets, managing to lap the circuit in 1:13.110. Middleton and Alden continued to trade times over second place with James Goodwin soon matching their pace. Less than a tenth of second cover the three as the session began to reach its end. Will Taylforth was late starting the session due to a bent exhaust pipe and a cracked manifold but when he finally managed to start, he came out fighting; his first lap was a 1:14.174, just over a tenth behind the battling trio of Middleton, Alden and Goodwin. Taylforth would only complete four laps but despite this, he was right at the sharp end in terms of lap times. Behind him, a train of eight drivers had less than a second covering them and sixth to fourteenth changed hands numerous times as the session wore on.

So the first pole position of the year would go to Alex Cursley on a 1:13.110, a significant amount ahead of second placed Kevin Middleton who set a 1:13.996 with Alden less than a tenth behind with a 1:14.024 and James Goodwin only another two hundredths back. Will Taylforth was able to qualify in fifth even though he missed much of the session, with Ian Brunning three tenths further back and he had series stalwart Simon Miles just seven hundredths behind. Steve Kite and Dan Blake swapped position several times with Kite eventually qualifying eighth with a 1:14.629 with Blake just one tenth behind. Neale Hurren rounded out the top ten.

Race one

As the lights went out for the first time this year, Alex Cursley got a great start and was able to open up a gap of just over eight tenths to the cars behind him and earn some crucial clean air. Heading into Brooklands for the first time and Jeff Alden got sideways and was squeezed out of line, dropping him down to sixth place. Will Taylforth and Simon Miles were both able to get through without being held up and moved into third and fifth positions respectively. The lead trio of Cursley, Middleton and Taylforth were making a break for it, lapping half a second faster than the rest of the field and opening up a gap. Simon Miles was able to match their pace but he was stuck in a battle with James Goodwin and lost time to the leaders, however, he did manage to set the fastest lap on the third lap of the race. Behind the leaders, a spectacular battle was going on between Eddie O'Kane, a down on power Dan Blake and Barbara Shillaker, with Blake and Shillaker in particular swapping positions several times in just three laps. It all went wrong on lap five though as a blown seal on her oil cooler would see Shillaker's car dump oil everywhere, including her tyres and this would ultimately take her out of the race. By lap seven, Goodwin had now got away from Simon Miles and was starting to close up on third placed Taylforth who was, in turn, closing up on Middleton for second and by lap nine, the trio were covered by less than a second. The gap between all of them was quickly decreasing: eight tenths, half a second, two tenths and finally, Taylforth was through and into second place and by this point, Simon Miles had closed up onto the back of this group and a small mistake by Goodwin on lap eleven would see Miles through and into fourth. Taylforth may have now had clean air but he was over three seconds behind Cursley with just four laps to go and that wasn't enough time to catch him.. So it'd be Alex Cursley taking the first victory of the year with Will Taylforth and Kevin Middleton also on the podium. Simon Miles and James Goodwin came next, separated by just over half a second. Steve Kite would have a relatively lonely race on his way to sixth place with Neale Hurren over ten seconds back in seventh. Eddie O'Kane was flying in the final laps but couldn't quite catch the eighth place Ian Brunning and ended up ninth, with Dan Blake rounding out the top ten.

Race one podium. Winner Alex Cursley in the middle, second placed Taylforth on the left and third place Kevin Middleton on the right

Race two

With both Taylforth and Simon Miles three places further up on the grid than they were in race one, both were hoping to challenge Alex Cursley for victory in round two. By the end of the first lap though, it was apparent that wasn't going to be the case as Cursley had already opened up a gap of almost eight tenths over the rest of the field. Simon Miles made quick work of Kevin Middleton and was in third by the end of lap two. Ian Brunning had made a relatively poor start and dropped three places to eleventh but made short work of clawing his way back up the field, passing Blake on lap two, Goodwin on lap five and Jeff Alden on lap ten. The battle capturing everyone's attention was the one for second between Taylforth and a charging Simon Miles who managed to once again set the fastest lap of the race. After two laps, 1.6 seconds covered Taylforth and Miles but that gap had dropped to less than a second by lap six and by lap nine, Miles was just one tenth of a second behind his younger rival and heading into Copse on lap ten, Miles made his move and was up to second. Taylforth wasn't going down without a fight and was back alongside heading into Brooklands, but being on the outside line meant the move couldn't be completed. The nineteen year old wasn't giving up though and stuck right on the back of Miles' car, looking for every overtaking opportunity possible. On the run up to Copse for the final time, Taylforth was on the inside line but Miles was able to power past him on the outside and a small twitch through Becketts from Taylforth was enough to keep Miles safely ahead and he was able to hang onto second place. But it was Alex Cursley who made it two wins from two races with Miles in second and Taylforth once again on the podium, both around five second behind Cursley. Kevin Middleton would take a relatively quiet fourth whilst Neale Hurren was pressuring Steve Kite but was unable to find a way past, making it a top five for Kite with Hurren sixth. Eddie O'Kane came next, just over half a second behind with Ian Brunning recovering from his bad start to finish eighth, just ahead of Jeff Alden. James Goodwin rounded out the top ten. Marc Brough should have finished eleventh but a one second penalty dropped him behind Dan Blake. Barbara Shillaker ended up sixteenth after retiring from race one whilst Robert Dawson was the only retiree from race two due to brake failure on lap one.

Race two podium. Winner Cursley in the middle, second place Miles on the left with third place Taylforth on the right.

The opening rounds of the 2017 Carbon8 Hyundai Coupe Cup were absolutely thrilling and made for some great racing. The season continues at Snetteron on Sunday 7th May and if the races are even half as good as the ones at Silverstone were, you will not want to miss them.

Images: World Of Motorsport/Coupe Cup Twiiter (@RaceCoupeCup)

Words: Jordan Hines (@JordanHines33)

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