The Milltek Sport Civic Cup moved to Croft in North Yorkshire for rounds three and four of the 2023 season, where Jack Harding leads the points standings after the opening two rounds at Snetterton, which took place over the Easter Weekend.
With the King’s Coronation taking place this weekend and plenty of bunting up around the circuit, here’s the roundup of all the action that took place in both Qualifying and Race one today.
QUALIFYING – 15-MINUTE SESSION
EDMUNDSON TAKES MAIDEN CIVIC CUP POLE POSITION
Qualifying to set the grid for race one took place on Saturday morning with 28 drivers entered to compete this weekend at the North Yorkshire venue, meaning that grid position would be all-important during the 15-minute session.
Area Motorsports Max Edmundson set the early pace in the session with a 1:32.168 followed by Will Redford in his Pro Alloys Racing Civic EP3 with a 1:32.273 ahead of Danny Hobson in his Area Motorsports Civic EP3 with a time of 1:32.420.
Halfway through the session, Dan MacDonald crashed at the exit of Sunny Out causing yellows flags to be shown. The Session was Red flagged with five minutes left.
The top ten drivers before the session restated were Max Edmundson, Will Redford, Danny Hobson, Series debutant Sam Kirkpatrick in his Area Motorsports Civic, Championship leader Jack Harding, Pro Alloy Racing Ryan Bensley, Harvey Caton, Snetterton Podium finisher Louie Capozzoli, 2021 Champion Alistair Camp and Alex Kite.
The session resumed, giving drivers a last gasp chance to get out and put a faster lap. As the clocked counted down to zero, drivers tried their best to set a quicker lap time however no one was able to go quicker than Max Edmundson, who stayed on top.
In fact the top ten drivers remained the same with Will Redford joining Edmundson on the front row ahead of Hobson, Kirkpatrick, Harding, Bensley, Caton, Capozzoli, Camp and Kite.
CROFT QUALIFYING RESULT
RACE ONE – 15 MINUTES
BENSLEY WINS RED FLAGGED RACE
Max Edmundson made a good start from pole position in the first race of the weekend at Croft, where he was pursued in the opening laps by Will Redford in the Pro Alloys Racing EP3, as the field fought to make up positions.
Edmundson was ahead at the end of lap one with Redford, Danny Hobson and and Ryan Bensley chasing, as Hobson pushed hard to try and pass Redford which involved some contact that saw the front bumper of Hobsons Area Motorsport Civic loosen. Jordan Brennan was the first retirement in the race as he pulled over the Kinetic Motorsport Civic EP3.
Sam Kirkpatrick, Harvey Caton and Louie Capozzoli contested the battle for tenth place early on as all three drivers were pushing hard to make up ground, leading to three cars wide coming out of the final hairpin.
The order settled to Edmundson leading Redford, Bensley, Harding, Morgan Bailey, Hobson, Kirkpatrick, Capozzoli, Caton and Alistair Camp. Capozzoli joined the fight for fifth place which was being contested by Bailey and Hobson.
Capozzoli made a bold attempt to pass Hobson at Hawthorn which ended in contact, seeing Hobson fall away as Bailey made good his escape. Hobson lost places to Kirkpatrick, Caton, Capozzoli and Camp as he recovered and fought back.
Redford piled the pressure on Edmundson for the lead with five minutes to go and this allowed both Bensley and Harding to close in as the top four now contested the lead. Redford tried passing at Sunny In and Sunny Out as well as trying a move into the hairpin, with Edmundson staying ahead.
Redford made his move at Clervaux on the penultimate lap, forcing the Area Motorsport driver wide however Edmundson fought back, with Redford shortcutting the chicane.
Both drivers were side by side for the rest of the lap as Redford refused to give the lead back, before contact ensued between Redford and Edmundson at the hairpin later on in the lap, with the Pro Alloys driver forced out wide, allowing team-mate Bensley to attack for the lead.
The race was red flagged due to Ben Sharpe Racing’s Dan MacDonald in the barriers on the run to Tower, with Will Redford also going off in the same place.
Ryan Bensley was declared the winner after Max Edmundson was disqualified from the results, with Jack Harding and Morgan Bailey completing the podium. Sam Kirkpatrick took fourth place on his championship debut ahead of Harvey Caton who completed the top five.
Alistair Camp, Dan Thackeray, Danny Hobson, Alex Kite and David Buky, on his return to the championship, completed the top ten with Buky starting from pole position for race two.
CROFT RACE ONE RESULT
Race Two, featuring a top-10 reversal on the grid, will be on Sunday afternoon with a scheduled start time of 1455hrs.
All the race action will be streamed live and can be accessed via the Civic Cup’s official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@civiccup7654
To find out more about the Milltek Sport Civic Cup, visit https://civic-cup.co.uk/ for more info and how to get involved.