Words by: Andy Lloyd
Images by: Isabel Clark, Andy Lloyd
Richard Jepp, at the wheel of the #65 Team Northbrook Racing Gen II Peugeot 108, took the overall win, and the Student Motorsport Competition victory, in Round 1 of the 2026 BRSCC Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship, taking the chequered flag just under a third of a second ahead of the #392 Citroen C1 piloted by Alistair May. Jepp’s teammate for 2026, Jack Wheeler, driving the #57 TNR Peugeot 107 completed the overall podium and took second in class.
Boston College Racing finished third of the Competition entries with debutant Alex Foden driving the #41 BCR Citroen to 7th overall.
With a total CityCar Cup entry of 41 cars and 19 cars entered into the SMo Competition, series organisers the BRSCC used a weekend format first tested at Silverstone in 2025 where the grid was divided into three groups after qualifying and each group competing twice over three contests.
Wheeler took class pole with a 1:03.169 followed by BCR’s Andrew Dyer and TNR’s Richard Jepp. Brooklands Technical College Racing’s George Antoniou was 4th quickest followed by JAS/HW Motorsports Jenson Jackson.
When the groups were announced for the first race of the weekend, 14 Competition cars were on the grid out of a total of 19 entered for the weekend. Wheeler was second on the overall grid, lining up alongside Alistair May with Jepp starting from the second row. BTCR’s George Antoniou started 5th overall and 3rd in class with JAS/HW’s Jenson Jackson on the 3rd row. Pitlane Development’s Reuben Lowe, making his Competition debut was on the 6th row, one row ahead of Waltham Forest College Racing’s Harry Sutton.
NSCG Racing’s Luke Sawyer was lined up on ninth row, followed by QE Motorsport’s Emilia Vincent. NESCOT’s Elliot Lettis started from the tenth row, followed by BTCR’s Luke Power, NSCG Racing’s Jake Gittus, QEM’s Alex Turner and Paddock Speedshop’s Aby-Jayde Bennett. BCR’s Alex Foden completed the Competition starters.
Richard Jepp had a plan going into the start and had quickly passed teammate Jack Wheeler. He then passed May for the lead in the #392 Citroen which he then held to the chequered flag. Boston College Racing’s Alex Foden had a spectacular start to his Competition career, making up 20 places and setting the overall fastest lap with a 1:02.879 on his eleventh tour.
Richard Jepp was delighted to open his 2026 account with an overall win.
“I already had a game plan from before we started. I know Alistair May runs quite loose on the rear end for the first few laps so I knew I had to get the job done early” he said. “I had a rocket start and managed to get up the inside of Jack and I was already pressing on to May. So I got the job done early like I planned and then it was just defending with everything I had.
“I still had a few problems with mid-corner turn-in which we’re going to be looking at but I can’t be unhappy. The team has worked as hard as ever and it’s a great result in the Student Motorsport Competition for both of us.”
Two drivers on the overall podium felt good after a demanding pre-season for Team Northbrook Racing’s Emma Norton.
“It was absolutely incredible,” said Emma Norton. “I was really proud of both of them. They were amazing drives. The team has been fantastic today and we couldn’t want for more.
“We’ve been busy all year and we didn’t really slow down after the end of last season so there hasn’t been much of an off-season really! We’re really proud of Jack and of Richard. It was an incredible race for the beginning of the season and we hope it stays that way.”
Jenson Jackson, George Antoniou, Reuben Lowe and Harry Sutton finished 4th to 7th followed by Elliot Lettis, Emilia Vincent, Luke Sawyer and Jake Gittus. Alex Turner and Aby-Jayde Bennett completed the Competition finishers. After contact followed by an electrical problem, Luke Sawyer completed only seven laps.
Race Two, for groups B and C, sees TNR’s Jack Wheeler on overall pole with Boston College Racing’s Andrew Dyer and Race 1 winner Richard Jepp on the second row. East Surrey College’s Carter Steel and Pitlane Development’s Reuben Lowe start from the sixth row followed by Harry Sutton, Luke Sawyer, Luke Bate, Elliot Lettis and Jake Gittus. Aby Bennet, Sean Feehan, Ollie Anslow and Alex Foden complete the Competition grid.
The flag drops for Race Two at 11.20am on Sunday April the 12th.