Words By: Andrew Lloyd – Head of Media at Student Motorsport
Photography Lead: Bernice Bradley Photography
After an action-packed two days at Croft Circuit for the penultimate weekend of the 2025 Student Motorsport Competition, part of the BRSCC Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship, Lee Crisps’s Boston College Racing maintained its lead at the head of the Competition standings. Stuart Bliss, at the wheel of the #18 Boston College Racing 1 / Autobliss Toyota Aygo took two fourth place and one second place finish in class to leave the North Yorkshire circuit on 201 points after dropped scores, eight points ahead of his teammate Andrew Dyer who drove his #15 BCR2 / RTW Vans and Conversions Toyota to a pair of class wins and a second in class to finish on 193 points.
Richard Jepp, driving the #65 Team Northbrook Racing 1 Gen II Peugeot 107, fell back in the title race despite finishing on the Competition podium in all three 15-minute contests, the South Coast-based driver taking a brace of third place finishes and a class win to leave Croft on 191 points, just two points behind Andrew Dyer and ten points behind Competition leader Bliss.
For the third time in its four-year history, the Student Motorsport Competition locked out the overall podium when Boston College Racing 2’s Andrew Dyer won the opening contest of the weekend’s triple-header at North Yorkshire’s Croft Circuit, with West Suffolk College ME’s Brady Pollock and TNR1’s Richard Jepp completing the overall top three. The Competition first achieved the feat of securing top three overall finishers on its visit to Trac Môn Anglesey in June where Dyer, teammate Stuart Bliss and Jepp shared the overall spoils in the opening two contests.
Testing at Croft Circuit on the Friday had thrown some challenges in the direction of the Student Motorsport Competition grid. Boston College Racing suffered a punctured fuel tank on the #18 car and spent the late afternoon sourcing and installing a new tank. Brooklands Technical College Racing (BTCR) had problems with the gearbox and clutch on Junior Gravina-Read’s #2 Citroen C1, while West Suffolk College, led by Alan Barrett, had their work cut out after the allied team, although not part of the Competition, JAS Autosport rolled their #5 Peugeot 107, causing significant damage. Driver Jenson Jackson was thankfully unhurt, but the two teams were in a race against time to get the #5 car out for qualifying on Saturday.
Qualifying
Qualifying got underway in warm and sunny conditions for Round 13 of the 2025 Student Motorsport Competition around the 2.1 miles of Croft Circuit.
Boston College Racing’s Andy Dyer set the early pace in the 15-minute session with a 1:51.850 on his first flying lap, closely followed by Competition standings leader Stuart Bliss with a 1:51.859. TNR’s Richard Jepp, who had suffered a DNF last time out at Silverstone, was third quickest with a 1:52.051.
WSC ME’s Brady Pollock, who enjoyed his first overall CityCar Cup victory at Silverstone in August, moved into provisional pole with a 1:51.072 on his second lap. Jepp improved to a 1:51.153, demoting Dyer to third on the overall provisional grid. Stuart Bliss then moved into fourth overall to make history with four Competition entries occupying the top four positions on the overall grid.
When the chequered flag came out at the end of qualifying, Brady Pollock in the #12 WSC ME BP Toyota was on both the overall and class pole with a 1:50.858 and joined on the front row by BCR2’s Andrew Dyer in the #15 Toyota who lapped in 1:50.874. TNR1’s Richard Jepp was third on the Competition grid and fourth overall with a 1:51.065 followed by BCR1’s Stuart Bliss, WSC ME HP’s Haydn Payne and Sussex Motorsports 1’s Alex Jackson. BTCR2’s Carter Steel was seventh quickest in class with teammate Junior Gravina-Read, NESCOT Racing’s Elliot Lettis, TNR2’s Ari Barker and City College Norwich’s Luke Power filling the class positions from eighth to eleventh.
QE Motorsport’s Emilia Vincent and WSC ME BEE’s Glenn Bee completed the Competition class qualifiers.
QE Motorsport’s Emilia Vincent and WSC ME BEE’s Glenn Bee completed the Competition class qualifiers.
Race 1
Brady Pollock led the field into Clervaux at the start of Race One as Andrew Dyer looked to take the lead on the outside but could not find a way past the #12 car. As Dyer was putting pressure on Pollock, TNR1’s Richard Jepp moved into third after a spin by Alistair May in the #392 Citroen.
After the first lap, Pollock led Dyer by less than half a second with Jepp a second further back, resulting in Competition entries filling the overall podium positions for the first time at Croft. Pollock started to pull out a slight advantage over Dyer but the BCR driver was not about to let up the pressure.
Pollock seemed to stumble at the Esses, allowing Dyer to get back on the rear bumper of the WSC Me car but Jepp was still closing in Dyer, forcing the BCR driver to think defensively.
With five minutes remaining, Pollock’s lead remained at less than half a second over Andrew Dyer as TNR’s Jepp was being challenged for third. Dyer made a move on Pollock at the Chicane but Pollock made contact with the tyre stack, allowing Richard Jepp to pass both drivers to take the overall lead. Pollock remained in second and Andrew Dyer dropped back to fourth overall and third in class.
There was, however, an unfortunate incident involving Max Finn in the #10 Citroen after Finn hit the dislodged tyre stack at the chicane, resulting in the car rolling before coming to rest some metres down the track. Finn was able to exit the car and make his way to the ambulance, from where he was taken to the local hospital. All the team at Student Motorsport wish Max a speedy recovery.
The race was not restarted, and the win, after countback, was given to Brady Pollock followed by Andrew Dyer and Richard Jepp. The result was appealed and, after the stewards had reviewed the evidence, a time penalty of .3 seconds was served on the #12 WSC ME BP entry and first and second places were reversed.
BCR1’s Stuart Bliss was fourth in class followed by WSC ME’s Haydn Payne, NESCOT Racing’s Elliot Lettis, Sussex Motorsport 1’s Alex Jackson, BTCR2’s Carter Steel and City College Norwich’s Luke Power. TNR2’s Ari Barker, QE Motorsport’s Emilia Vincent and WSC ME BEE’s Glenn Bee completed the Competition finishers.
Race 2
As the grid formed for Race Two, rain started to fall, the first the circuit had seen for what had been, up to that point, a dry and warm race meeting. Andrew Dyer led the field away and held off Brady Pollock, who himself was defending from TNR2’s Richard Jepp. The TNR pilot briefly passed Pollock, who fought back to reclaim the position.
Dyer started to pull away with Jepp now in second place and Brady Pollock third in class.
There was drama for Haydn Payne in the WSC ME2 car, who went off after contact in the greasy conditions at Barcroft. Dyer, meanwhile, had a 1.22 second advantage after two laps, but Jepp fought back and was within three car lengths of the BCR2 driver with just over seven and a half minutes remaining.
Jepp was pushing hard and looking to pass the #15 BCR Toyota for the overall lead which he did coming out of Clervaux. Dyer fought back but the TNR1 driver started to pull out a small advantage.
As the 15-minute contest entered its final third, Jepp was pulling away at the front but Dyer was not giving up and appeared to be biding his time in the draft behind the TNR1 car.
WSC ME’s Pollock looked to make a move up the inside of Sunny In for an overall third position, but could not make the pass stick and had to settle for fifth.
As the seconds ticked down, Jepp held on to the overall lead chased by Dyer but the BCR2 driver could not find his way past, leaving Richard Jepp to take his first overall CityCar Cup Championship victory of 2025 and secure the Competition win. Brady Pollock in the #12 WSC ME Toyota finished third in class while standings leader Bliss finished fourth. Elliot Lettis in the #333 NESCOT Racing Peugeot continued his improved run of form with a fifth in class finish followed by SMS1’s Alex Jackson, BTCR1’s Junior Gravina-Read, BTCR2’s Carter Steel and QEM’s Emilia Vincent. CCN, TNR2’s Barker and WSC ME BEE’s Glenn Bee completed the class finishers.
Speaking after Richard Jepp’s victory in Race Two, Team Northbrook Racing’s Emma Norton reflected on the rollercoaster of emotions that the team has been through over the past few weeks.
“It’s been a really challenging weekend,” said Emma Norton. “It’s been very emotional with lots of highs and lows, but at the moment we’re riding high, which is a good thing to feel. We go into the next round in tenth position on the grid so there’s still more to come and it’s going to be even more challenging because the track’s now wet but if anyone can do it, Richard can. We have that belief in him and I know that he can turn things around.”
Emma Norton and her team were still concerned with the overheating issues that plagued their Gen II car last time out at Silverstone.
“Silverstone was a huge disappointment and we are concerned about the heat tolerance of the Gen IIs because it wasn’t just our vehicle. We think we’ve made some adjustments which will improve that. We think that the lower temperature here at Croft will only aid our cause but we still want to get to the bottom of the overheating issues.”
Race 3
For the final race of the weekend, the reverse grid for the first five rows of the grid had BCR1’s Stuart Bliss starting from the third row in fifth with WSC ME’s Brady Pollock directly behind. Race Two winner Richard Jepp started from tenth with BCR2’s Andrew Dyer alongside the Harwin-backed driver on the fifth row.
Bliss held on to the class lead on the opening lap with teammate Dyer one place back. Richard Jepp, meanwhile, had fallen back down to the order to twelfth overall. With eight minutes remaining Dyer had passed Bliss for the class lead with Richard Jepp having recovered up to third in class. The safety car was deployed after the #61 car with Ben Johnson in the car beached in the gravel at Turn One.
Racing resumed with just under three minutes remaining as Dyer moved into fifth overall, holding on to the Competition lead as Bliss and Jepp fought for eighth place overall. As the field took the chequered flag, it was BCR2’s Andrew Dyer who took his second Competition victory of the day with Bliss and Jepp filling the remaining podium places. Brady Pollock finished fourth in class followed by Alex Jackson, Elliot Lettis, Carter Steel and Haydn Payne. The Competition field was completed by Junior Gravina-Read, Emilia Vincent, Ari Barker and Luke Power and Glenn Bee.
Looking Ahead
With just three races remaining in the 2025 season, Boston College Racing looks the team to beat with the BCR1 car driven by Stuart Bliss leading the title chase followed by teammate Andrew Dyer in the BCR2 Toyota who now moves into second in the standings. Richard Jepp in the TNR1 Peugeot drops back to third in the standings on 191 points.
Brady Pollock in the #12 WSC ME entry looks safe in fourth in the Competition standings, 33 points ahead of SMS1 and Alex Jackson who continued their impressive season with another weekend of solid top seven finishes. Haydn Payne and Ari Barker remain in sixth and seventh as Elliot Lettis moves into eighth for NESCOT Racing on 114 points after a solid weekend of top six finishes in class.
Luke Power in the #222 CCN Peugeot improves three positions in the standings on 92 points with WSC ME BEE moving up to tenth on 90 points. Emilia Vincent in the #174 QEM car improves to 11th in the standings followed by SMS2’s Toby Owen and BTCR1’s Junior Gravina-Read.
East Surrey College’s Jack Wheeler, who did not compete at Croft after a coolant problem last time at Silverstone, and Competition debutant Carter Steel in the BTCR2 entry complete the standings. Steel had a highly competitive weekend in North Yorkshire with three top-eight finishes and must surely be planning his 2026 season in anticipation of fighting for class podiums in the near future.
The Student Motorsport Competition now moves to Silverstone for its second visit of the 2025 season but this time on the International circuit on October the 11th and 12th for what promises to be another fantastic weekend of racing, and where the Title Winner of the 2025 Competition will be crowned. The Silverstone weekend will also see the Competition grid competing for the Pit Stop Challenge, where teams race against the clock to complete a simulated pit stop and a list of tasks.