Words By: Andrew Lloyd – Head of Media at Student Motorsport
Photography Lead: Bernice Bradley Photography
Can WSC ME’s Pollock Fight For His Second Overall Victory of the Season?
The Student Motorsport Competition, the world’s leading motorsport contest providing real-world trackside experience to the next generation of industry professionals and part of the BRSCC Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship, returns to Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on September the 6th and 7th for rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the 2025 season.
The Competition last raced at the historic circuit, located just over six miles south of Darlington, in 2023 when seven teams and eight drivers comprised the class grid. Over the course of three races in May 2023, Richard Jepp, driver of the #65 Team Northbrook Racing Peugeot 107, secured a trio of class victories and two overall podium finishes at the start of what would be the Shoreham-based team’s second title-winning campaign. Also making their debut at Croft in 2023 was QE Motorsports and their driver Arthur Simondet. The team, crewed by pupils of school age, impressed the CityCar grid by placing their Texan-born, London-based driver on the class podium in just their second competitive outing.
Since 2023, interest in the Student Motorsport Competition has increased dramatically and on the Competition’s return to North Yorkshire, 13 cars entered by eight teams will join the CityCar Cup grid for three 15-minute contests around Croft’s 3.423km circuit.
With a timetable that compresses most of the LIVE Streamed on-track action to the Sunday, teams will need to make the most of the time they have available on the Saturday, making sure that cars have been checked and double-checked and that everything is ready for a busy day of racing. As a result, and in readiness for the Student Motorsport End-of-Season Awards, the Weekend Focus for all teams will be ‘Team Professionalism’ and ‘Race Car Preparation’. One element of the Team Professionalism award focuses on the team’s organisational abilities while Race Car Preparation looks at the team’s ability to consistently prepare a race car to a professional standard. Both of these disciplines will be in demand over the course of the busy Croft weekend.
Looking Back at Silverstone
Last time out at Silverstone, after a weekend that saw the teams compete in the amended format of two rounds over three races, Boston College Racing (BCR) left Northamptonshire having extended their lead at the top of the Competition standings. Stuart Bliss, driver of the #18 Boston College Racing 1 / Autobliss car, secured two second-place finishes in class behind teammate Andrew Dyer.
BCR has now pulled out a 12-point advantage over Team Northbrook Racing 1’s Richard Jepp who experienced the frustration of a DNF in his second race of the Silverstone weekend.
West Suffolk College travels to Croft on a high after Allen Barrett’s squad saw Brady Pollock, driver of the team’s #12 Toyota, race to his first overall CityCar Cup Championship victory and his fifth Student Motorsport Competition win since he entered the contest in 2024.
“Last time out at the home of British motorsport was an incredible weekend for the whole team,” said Alan Barrett. “Brady’s overall win was a huge confidence boost for everybody and we mustn’t forget his stunning drive in Race Three where, after contact, he was taken off but still fought his way back to sixth overall and third in class.
“Haydn Payne in our #72 car also had a great weekend with podium finishes in both races and it was fantastic to see West Suffolk College taking the fight to Boston College Racing and Team Northbrook Racing. Our fuel supplier and supporter, Sustain Fuels, was present in our paddock throughout the day and we were proud that our success at Silverstone represented a great endorsement for their products.
“We travel to Croft confident that we can fight for more overall and class wins as well as support the progress of our Development Driver Luke Power as he makes his second circuit appearance with City College Norwich!
“We’re also delighted to welcome back Glenn Bee to the driving seat of the #119 WSC BEE Citroen. After a solid weekend for his son Ben at Silverstone, we will do everything we can to make sure Glenn has a fantastic weekend at Croft.”
Boston College Racing is the team to beat for the Competition title in 2025 and Andrew Dyer’s two class victories ahead of teammate Stuart Bliss at Silverstone showed how evenly matched the two drivers are. Bliss has enjoyed CityCar Cup success before at Croft after he took two overall second-place finishes in North Yorkshire in 2023. Andrew Dyer, however, will undoubtedly have raced at Croft in other series, so there will be little between the two pilots when racing gets underway on Sunday.
Barring a disaster, BCR and Stuart Bliss are on course to be crowned 2025 Competition title winners at Silverstone in October, but there are plenty of teams who are going to be working hard to provide some upsets during the final six contests of the season. Croft will provide a fascinating battleground as the current season moves towards a conclusion.
It was a bitter-sweet weekend for Team Northbrook Racing at Silverstone. The team which has won the Competition title since its inception in 2022, saw Richard Jepp fail to finish his second race and with it the opportunity to take the fight to BCR. Overheating meant that, after taking the lead in Race One, Jepp fell back to finish fifth overall and third in class while a mid-race red flag meant that heat soak while sitting on the grid resulted in the #65 car going into limp mode at the restart and failing to finish.
For Jepp’s teammate Ari Barker, driver of the #87 TNR2 Peugeot 107, Silverstone was one of his best weekends with two fourth-in-class finishes, moving the Harwin-backed driver up to seventh in the standings. Approaching the end of his second year in car racing, the ex-karter is now turning his experience and confidence into on-track success and we can expect to see Barker challenging for more top six class finishes when the Competition travels to Croft.
Luke Power, part of the WSC Driver Development Programme, made his racing debut for Leon Wilde’s City College Norwich last time out at Silverstone. Power and the team left Northamptonshire with two top ten finishes in class so must have been pleased at how their first weekend as a driver-and-team combination, although they were frustrated that two incidents probably spoiled what could have been a perfect weekend. With the Competition’s Croft visit being its first in two years, there will be many drivers on the grid with little or no experience of competing at this historic venue so Power may have less of a competitive disadvantage than he did at the home of British motorsport. Expect to see this young pilot growing with confidence as the Croft weekend progresses.
Sussex Motorsports visits Croft with a single car entry, Toby Owen in the team’s #’42 Black Sheep Racing / Sussex Motorsports 2 Citroen C1 being unable to secure an entry for this packed weekend. Alex Jackson, however, continues to grow in confidence after a pair of top six finishes in class last time out at Silverstone. The #47 car, piloted by Jackson, sits fifth in the standings, 23 points behind the #12 WSC ME Toyota driven by Brady Pollock. With Croft being a new track to both drivers, could North Yorkshire see the SMS driver move closer to WSC MEBP in the standings? With three rounds to contest on Sunday, the standings when we leave Croft could look quite different.
Emilia Vincent, driver of the #174 QE Motorsport Gen II Peugeot, was another Competition driver to have a frustrating weekend at Silverstone. After qualifying 21st, a spin by a competitor meant Emilia had to take evasive action and drop five places. In her second race, the #174 Peugeot went into limp mode after Vincent was on target to potentially take her second Student Motorsport Competition podium. Emilia Vincent does have previous experience at Croft, having competed in one of Wiltshire College and University Centre’s earliest outings in the Competition.
Helen Snuggs’ team will be looking for better luck when the Competition travels to its most northern circuit.
Brooklands Technical College Racing continues to grow in confidence, having made its debut at Oulton Park earlier this season and expanding to a two-car entry when Carter Steele made his first Competition appearance at Silverstone. Junior Gravina-Read, driving the team’s #2 Citroen, had his best Competition finish with a sixth in class in the final contest at Silverstone while Steele went one better, finishing fifth in class. With a huge overall grid at Croft, it may be ambitious to expect the Surrey-based team to repeat those results but determination and hard work will see BTCR finish the 2025 season in style.
Elliot Lettis is now settling into his new home at George Keith’s NESCOT College Racing but Silverstone showed that the team still has work to do to resolve the coolant issues that blighted its weekend and prevented Lettis from joining the grid for Race Two. NCR is only in its first year of Student Motorsport Competition and will be working hard to provide the 2023 CityCar Cup champion with a car that matches his considerable racing talent.
LIVE STREAMED Track action for Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the 2025 Student Motorsport Competition gets underway on Saturday September the 6th with a 15-minute qualifying session at 2.35pm. The lights go out for Race One at 9.30am on Sunday September the 7th with Races Two and Three beginning at 2.40pm and 5.45pm respectively.