Cadwell Park 2026

The Hitek Electronic Materials Alfa Romeo Championship paid its annual visit to Cadwell Park to contest rounds 5 and 6 of this year’s 14 race programme on the picturesque and unique 2.187 mile circuit set in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds.  Coming just two weeks after the rounds at Donington Park was potentially going to have an impact on the availability of entries and so it proved, nevertheless a 16 strong entry was still a creditable outcome.

The entry comprised the Modified cars of Jamie Thwaites, Jack Berry, Scott Austin and Andy Page, the Power Trophy cars of Stacey Dennis, Mark Skeggs and Mark Purcell, the Turismo cars of James Powell, George Warren, Steve Godfrey, Jack Carter and Sam Kay and the Twin Spark cars of Ian Fenwick, Paul Plant, Richard Wadlow-Smith and Dave Pickup, although the latter was unable to make the Saturday qualifying and would line up on the back of the grid for race one on the Sunday morning.

QUALIFYING

After George Warren’s GTV had initially topped the leaderboard following the first flying lap, Jamie Thwaites in his TCR Giulietta threw down a marker with a sub 1:40 time on the second lap, following up with a 1:36.9 and then a 1:36.089 on lap 4, a time that would subsequently prove to be good enough to take pole position for race 1. Meanwhile, Scott Austin in the Integrale engined 156 and Jack Berry in the Alfa Workshop 4C had been trading times in the low 1:40s as the session progressed, but Scott managed to shave over 4 seconds off his previous best to record a 1:38.04 on lap 6 before retiring from the session on lap 7. This was good enough to claim the second spot on the grid with Jack’s best time of 1:39.135 meaning he had to settle for third with Andy Page’s best time of 1:44.083 securing fourth.

Fifth overall and first Turismo class car was the 147 of James Powell, taking the class lead from early pacesetter George Warren on lap 6 with his pole time of 1:45.327 coming on the following lap. Jack Carter was third with a 1:47.314, with Sam Kay fourth with a 1:48.836 and Steve Godfrey fifth with a 1:51.374 on his final lap.

In sixth to eighth overall were the 3 Power Trophy runners of Mark Skeggs in the Bianco supported GTV, Mark Purcell in the Talos Motorsport 155  and Stacey Dennis in the Bianco supported Giulietta. Mark Purcell had set the pace in the early laps but his best time of 1:48.438 was just eclipsed by Mark Skeggs on lap 4 before the latter made sure of the class pole with a 1:45.605 from Mark’s best of 1:45.955 and Stacey’s 1:46.292, all set on their seventh lap out of 8. The top ten was completed by George Warren and Jack Carter in their Turismo cars.

Paul Plant in his Bianco Motorsports 156 led the Twin Spark class throughout, his fastest time of 1:47.587 being good enough for eleventh overall ahead of the Turismo cars of Sam Kay and Steve Godfrey. Ian Fenwick’s 147 took second in class with a 1:53.274 from Richard Wadlow-Smith’s 146 who recorded a best of 1:53.403, the two of them lining up ahead of the similarly liveried 156 of Dave Pickup who had been unable to make the qualifying session.

George Warren had to abandon his session after completing just three laps due to a power steering fluid problem whilst Ian Fenwick completed five laps in the 147. Both drivers would have their cars on the grid for the following morning’s race.

RACE 1

There was drama before the cars had been assembled on the grid with Jamie Thwaites pulling into the pit lane at the end of the green flag lap. When the lights went out signalling the race start, it was the 4C of Jack Berry that led the cars away followed by the 156 of Scott Austin. George Warren and Mark Skeggs had also started well in their GTVs but by the end of the lap it was the Giulietta 116 of Andy Page that followed the leading pair over the line to start lap 2, with George Warren fourth, Mark Skeggs fifth and James Powell sixth. Mark Purcell led Paul Plant’s Twin Spark 156 by almost 2 seconds and the top ten were rounded off by the Turismo cars of Jack Carter and Sam Kay a further couple of seconds adrift. The problem that had caused Jamie Thwaites to pit at the end of the green flag lap was quickly rectified and he set off from the pit lane to make up lost ground on the rest of the field. Richard Wadlow-Smith was eleventh at the end of lap 1 and second Twin Spark whilst Dave Pickup, starting at the back of the grid, had made up 4 places to twelfth. Ian Fenwick’s 147 was thirteenth, the Turismo 156 of Steve Godfrey fourteenth and the Power Trophy Giulietta of Stacey Dennis had been experiencing problems and lost 6 places to cross the line in fifteenth spot. By the time Jamie Thwaites had completed the opening lap he was over 26 seconds behind the leading 4C and 7 seconds adrift from Stacey’s Giulietta.

Cadwell Park is not the easiest circuit to negotiate a path through a field of cars, but such is the pace of the TCR car relative to the non Modified class cars that Jamie was immediately able to lap within the pace of the leading 4C and by the end of lap 2 he was up to tenth place, although still 26 seconds behind Jack’s 4C. At the front of the field, Scott Austin’s 156 was missing from the leaderboard. The 156’s turbo blew as the car approached Hall Bends on lap 2, filling the air with an ominous cloud of tell tale blue smoke and inevitably heralding the imminent retirement of the car. By the end of lap 3, the TCR Giulietta had reeled in another 5 seconds from Jack’s lead and was now up to seventh spot and putting in a series of 1:37 lap times. By the end of lap 4 Jamie was fourth, about to pass the GTV of Mark Skeggs on the start finish straight and the Giulietta of Andy Page on the Park Straight to take second. By the end of the fifth lap the gap was down to just over 13 seconds and down to 5.5 seconds at the start of lap 7 with Jamie taking the lead on the approach to Barn and pulling out a 5 second gap from the slowing 4C by the time he started lap 8.

Mark Skeggs’s Power Trophy GTV had been engaged in a race long battle with Andy Page’s Giulietta and was just managing to hold on to third place over the last few laps. The Power Trophy 155 of Mark Purcell was lying sixth overall when a drive shaft broke on lap 4 unfortunately leading to his retirement, whilst the final Power Trophy car of Stacey Dennis was lacking its usual pace and was circulating in ninth position.

James Powell was having his own battle with George Warren in the Turismo class, taking the lead on lap 6 and maintaining it for the rest of the race. Paul Plant‘s Twin Spark was just ahead of the Turismo cars of Jack Carter and Sam Kay, Sam taking the lead on lap 2 and managing to hang on to it with Jack in close attention often with fractions of a second between them. As the cars went through Charlie’s on lap 11, Jack had the inside line on the exit and as they entered the Park Straight, the cars made contact and Sam’s 33 unfortunately left the track and this resulted in a heavy frontal impact with the tyre barrier on the inside. Jack’s 147 continued but the incident resulted in an inevitable Red Flag and the race results were declared as at the end of lap nine. Fortunately, Sam was all right but the car was recovered to the paddock in need of some extensive works in order for it to be ready to return to the track.

The classified order of finishing was Jamie Thwaites first in the TCR Giulietta from Jack Berry’s 4C with a margin of almost 28 seconds at the point the results were declared. An excellent drive by Mark Skeggs in the PT GTV resulted in third overall and first in class. Andy Page was fourth and third in the Modified class ahead of James Powell’s 147 taking fifth and the Turismo class lead from George Warren in sixth. Seventh was the leading Twin Spark 156 of Paul Plant with Jack Carter’s 147 classified eighth overall and third in class. Stacey Dennis finished ninth in the PT Giulietta ahead of Dave Pickup, second in the Twin Spark class with Richard Wadlow-Smith third, ahead of Ian Fenwick’s 147 and Steve Godfrey’s Turismo class 156. Of the retirees, Mark Purcell was able to get the drive shaft fixed and he would line up at the back of the grid for the second race later that day.

Race 1 Results

RACE 2

When the lights went out to signal the start of race 2, it was Jack Berry’s 4C that made the better start from Jamie Thwaites in the Giulietta TCR, with George Warren also making a good start to challenge the GTV of Mark Skeggs and the 116 Giulietta of Andy Page. At the end of lap one it was the 4C that led by 0.4 second from Jamie’s TCR car, 8 seconds clear of the third place battle led by Mark Skeggs in his PT GTV from George Warren’s Turismo class GTV, Andy Page’s Modified class car and the second PT car of Stacey Dennis, already noticeably quicker than throughout the first race. James Powell was next ahead of Paul Plant’s 156 Twin Spark and the Turismo class 147 of Jack Carter. Rounding off the top ten was Richard Wadlow-Smith, going well in second place in the Twin Spark class from Dave Pickup and Ian Fenwick in their 156 and 147. Mark Purcell’s PT class 155 was next ahead of the Turismo class 156 of Steve Godfrey.

At the front the 4C was circulating consistently in the sub 1:40s, which it had not achieved throughout the whole of race one, with the Giulietta always a fraction of a second away and well in touch to take advantage of any opening that may present itself. This continued for lap after lap until, on lap 9, Jamie seized an opportunity coming out of Mansfield to get on the inside of Jack’s 4C and he was through as the pair approached the bottom of the Mountain. This released Jamie to put in a succession of times in the mid 1:30s to consolidate his lead and take the chequered flag by almost 18 seconds in the end.

Behind the leading pair, another close race long battle was once again unfolding between the Power Trophy GTV of Mark Skeggs and the Modified class 116 Giulietta of Andy Page for the third podium spot. Mark led for the first couple of laps before Andy moved ahead on lap 3, Mark gaining the initiative again on lap 6 with Andy back in front on the next lap. Mark retook third place again on lap 9, holding on this time to take the chequered flag. Andy’s Giulietta had slowed slightly over the last couple of laps but held on to fourth ahead of Stacey Dennis whose Giulietta had been showing a better race pace than in the morning. Mark Purcell had started at the back of the grid in the 155 and was lapping around the 1:50s and a few seconds a lap short of his qualifying performance but he finished eleventh overall and third in the PT class.

In the Turismo class, George Warren in the GTV led for the first few laps but James Powell’s 147 managed to get through around Charlie’s on lap 5 and held on to take the class win, the pair finishing in sixth and seventh overall. The 147 of Jack Carter had been in touch with the leading pair for the first few laps but a gearbox problem unfortunately forced his retirement on lap eight. Steve Godfrey’s lap times had been steadily improving throughout the race culminating in a personal best of 1:50.034 on the last lap in the 156, taking third in class.

In the Twin Spark class, it was once again the 156 of Paul Plant that made the running, opening up a gap of 20 seconds by the halfway point. On the next lap, however, the 156 started to slow and had to pull in to the pits with what turned out to be a gearbox problem. The Bianco team managed to get fourth gear and he was able to rejoin the race, albeit at the back. Richard Wadlow-Smith’s 146 had made a good start holding second in class at the end of lap one but losing this to Dave Pickup’s 156 on the following lap. On lap five, Ian Fenwick’s 147 took third in class with the 146 fourth. With the exception of Paul’s 156 visiting the pits, this remained the order through to the finish with Dave Pickup taking the class win with Ian Fenwick second and Richard Wadlow-Smith third. Paul finished in fourth position, albeit two laps down on the leaders at the flag.

Mark Skeggs was presented with the Driver of the Weekend award. Leading the championship after 6 rounds is Jack Berry with James Powell second and Stacey Dennis third. Jack Berry leads the Modified class from Jamie Thwaites and Andy Page. Stacey Dennis leads the Power Trophy class from Mark Skeggs and Mark Purcell. James Powell leads the Turismo class from Steve Godfrey and George Warren. Paul Plant leads the Twin Spark Cup class from Dave Pickup and Richard Wadlow-Smith. Next rounds are at the Brands Hatch GP on the 11th and 12^th July.

Race 2 Results

More photos from Jess Croome Photography