East Surrey College’s Dyer takes first Student Motorsport Challenge win at soaked Snetterton

“Over the coming weeks and months, we will be working with SMo teams to develop their drivers track-driving skills, techniques and etiquette and we will be focusing on many different areas that no one else does. 

“We will aim to support the team that needs it most with our sponsored prize. Together with Student Motorsport we will judge the winner over the weekend and make a choice and announcement in due course.

“Driven by our shared passion for the sport, our mission is to keep motorsport fun, improve standards and support everyone to meet a minimum industry standard.”   

Going into the Snetterton rounds, Team Northbrook Racing’s Richard Jepp had been unbeaten in every round but one, the Shoreham-based driver having broken his streak at the final round at Anglesey. East Surrey College’s Jack Wheeler took his maiden win in the SMo Challenge in Round 9.

For the Snetterton rounds, the Challenge was joined by a new driver with Andy Dyer taking over the driving duties in the #11 Barracksport Citroen C1 after Duncan Horlor had stepped down to focus his attention on his son’s karting career. Dyer had competed in the BRSCC Nankang Tyres CityCar Cup since its inception in 2021 and finished second in the overall standings last season.

Missing from the Snetterton grid were Coleg Gwent and Menai Motorsports, both teams having scheduling clashes that prevented their attendance in Norfolk. Also missing was the #49 Barracksport GSR entry, driven by James Smith. Smith had endured a significant incident at Anglesey and delays in getting the required parts for the rebuild meant that the #49 car was side-lined for Snetterton.

Race one of the Snetterton triple-header saw the class victory go to East Surrey College and Jack Wheeler with Richard Jepp’s TNR entry finishing second in class. The final podium position went to Liam Browning in the #91 Boston College Racing 

Citroen. Rain, which was to be a significant factor across the weekend, was falling as the 15-minute contest got underway. Barracksport’s Andy Dyer led the class field away from pole position but issues with the set-up of the #11 car meant that Dyer fell back from the class lead. Wheeler held on in the damp conditions to take his second class win and his first overall podium finish, taking the chequered flag less than a second behind overall winner Stuart Bliss in the #18 Toyota. Richard Jepp overcame a difficult start to finish second in class while Boston College Racing’s Liam Browning secured third.

“That race was hard to manage,” said Liam Browning. “The start was mega. I had no wheelspin off the line while everybody else was wheel-spinning and I got past about three or four cars as a result. After that, it was all about just hanging on. The car had been set up for dry conditions and had we softened the settings, we could have kept second in class but that race was great.”

Dyer finished fourth after starting from the class pole while QE Motorsports, West Suffolk College and Wiltshire College and University Centre completed the remaining places.

Race Two began under atrocious conditions with rain covering the entirety of the 2.97-mile Snetterton 300 circuit. East Surrey College’s Wheeler got away to a flying start and moved into the overall lead going into turn one before Stuart Bliss in the #18 Toyota passed Wheeler for the lead on the exit from Corum. Wheeler kept in touch with Bliss before Elliot Lettis drew up to the leading pair and passed the East Surrey College driver, demoting the #57 to third. 

The red flag was shown shortly afterwards due to an incident and countback meant that Wheeler regained his overall second place finish. Richard Jepp finished second in class and the final podium position was taken by Andy Dyer, an improved wet-weather set-up on the Barracksport car making #11 entry more competitive.

Conditions for Sunday’s third race were expected to be much improved from Saturday, with most teams opting to switch to a dry set-up. However, with the approach of the race start, the rain returned and the teams of students led by their team principals scrambled to put a wet set-up back on their cars, many working until the last minute in the assembly area. Although unwelcome, the challenges of the weather offered valuable real-life experience to the learners which could not have been replicated in the classroom or workshop.

Team Northbrook Racing’s Richard Jepp started from class pole after the top ten starters were rearranged for the final race but it was Andy Dyer who had found the set-up sweet spot in his #11 Barracksport Citroen. Dyer passed Jepp for the class lead and went on to finish on the overall podium for the first time since returning in 2023, ahead of Jepp who finished in second. Jack Wheeler finished third in class with Browning, Payne, Simondet and Vincent finishing fourth to seventh respectively in the SMo Challenge class.

The provisional results in the Student Motorsport Challenge after rounds nine, ten and eleven show Team Northbrook Racing leading the class on 232 points, 61 points ahead of East Surrey College who now move to second in the standings, ahead of Barracksport. West Suffolk College are 21 points behind Barracksport in fourth place while QE Motorsports and Arthur Simondet maintain their fifth place.

Emile Vincent and Wiltshire College remain in sixth place on 104 points with Boston College Racing moving into seventh place on 86 points. Coleg Gwent, Barracksport GSR and Menai Motorsports complete the SMo Challenge points table.

For Team Northbrook Racing, new challengers have meant that the team’s, and Richard Jepp’s, dominance of the top step of the Challenge podium may have come to an end for the moment. Three second-place finishes in class at Snetterton, however, mean that TNR still head the points standings by a considerable margin and it will take sustained success by the chasing teams, and a degree of misfortune on the part of South Coase-based team, to topple the #65 car from its Challenge lead.

“There’s some good racing going on now!” said Richard Jepp. “The wet weather does level everything out as well. We had the pace to take the class win in the third race and, with one more lap, I would have been past Andy Dyer, I think. It’s good to see some battles in the pack but we’re now looking forward to Brands Hatch and seeing what we can do there.”

“A huge thanks goes to the TNR team who had a lot of work to do since Anglesey after we received a substantial amount of damage during rounds 7, 8 and 9. They all put in extra hours to get the car ready and I was glad to repay them with some good results.”

TNR Team Technical Manager Mark Stafford echoed Richard Jepp’s thoughts.

“Prior to Anglesey, we decided the engine required replacing as the original had already done a full season,” said Mark Stafford. “The motorsports students of Northbrook College worked closely together to source and rebuild a low mileage engine and get it fitted in time for the previous rounds. There was no time to test the engine but it proved very strong.

 “At Snetterton Richard Jepp reported a slight loss of power so the students worked together using their training and skills to test various sensors in between races to see what could be done to find the problem. Ultimately, we believed the problem to be a fuel delivery issue. A suitable solution was found and we were delighted to secure three second place finishes over the weekend.

“Further changes are planned and testing is scheduled before we visit our home circuit of Brands Hatch where we hope to increase our lead in the points.”  

George Keith’s East Surrey College squad are now seeing the results of their work with Jack Wheeler with a car that can compete for overall podiums as well as success in class. Moving into second in the class standings was the team’s objective for Snetterton and, with that achieved, their sights are now turned on Brands Hatch, a track that Jack Wheeler has considerable experience at.

“The shaken-up grid in Race Three didn’t do us any favours but the goal was to get in the top three for the Student Motorsport Challenge which we did,” said Jack Wheeler. “It would have been nice to have been a bit further up the grid but we’re happy with the results overall this weekend.

“We’re looking forward to Brands Hatch which is a circuit I have driven a lot so I’m hoping for good results but I guess we’ll have to see!”

Oxford-based Barracksport were delighted at how their weekend progressed after going in the wrong direction with the set-up of their #11 Citroen for the opening race. Driver Andy Dyer was delighted at how the weekend progressed after the car was analysed and changes made by the team’s engineers.

“Race three was really interesting,” said Dyer. “I had a bit of a mechanical issue in the race as well which didn’t help so when Richard was catching me, I knew the pressure was on so I just had to keep him behind. But it was a good race. I had a mega start and I thought I was going to keep up with Stuart Bliss but once the mechanical issue began, I knew it wasn’t going to happen but overall I was really happy.