Max Edmundson became the first driver to go through a race weekend unbeaten in 2024 as he swept to a Milltek Sport Civic Cup double in scintillating fashion at Thruxton (21-22 September).
Qualifying
Reigning champion Max Edmundson had never driven at the high-speed 2.36-mile Hampshire circuit until Friday testing. But the Area Motorsport driver hardly showed it as he scorched to a fourth pole position in six race weekends.
Edmundson was one of five drivers to break the 100mph average speed barrier, despite damp conditions, and he was joined by some familiar names at the top of the timesheets.
Team-mate and title rival Josh Files was second quickest, less than 0.2 seconds down, followed by the leading FN2 model Civic of 2021 champion Alistair Camp.
Returning after the birth of his child, Liam McGill completed an Area Motorsport 1-2-3-4, while Pro Alloys Racing’s Alex Kite was first to break the monopoly in fifth overall.
A second FN2 of Dave Marshall (DMR with KA Car Sales) completed the top six, and the top 10 was rounded out by Spencer Stevenson (Ben Sharpe Racing), Lewis Kent (Area), Jamie Petters (Team Petters Racing) and Harvey Caton (Area).
The latter pair set identical times in a demonstration of just how close Milltek Sport Civic Cup racing is, despite Caton being slightly hampered by a recalcitrant gearbox.
THRUXTON QUALIFYING RESULT
Round 14 – Race Report
The weekend’s opening race took place at mid-afternoon on Saturday, and benefited from what would prove to be rare dry conditions over the weekend.
In a championship separated by fine margins, Edmundson and Files have regularly managed to find the slightest edge over their competition in 2024 and so it proved again. The pair converted their front-row starts into first and second on the road and were rarely challenged for the remainder of the race.
Files kept his younger team-mate honest, but Edmundson gradually eked out a lead of more than 2s as he took his seventh victory of the season, with the pair almost 10s clear of the rest.
The race-long battles came behind. Camp edged team-mates McGill and Kent to third, the trio covered by less than 0.5s at the chequered flag.
It was an almighty scrap for sixth. Kite and a fast-starting Caton initially traded the position, before Caton locked up at the Complex and dropped a few positions. Stevenson was another to hit drama as he found armfuls of oversteer at the super-fast Church corner and had a trip over the grass.
But Stevenson recovered well and eventually edged clear of the squabble to make sixth place his own and claim Paul Winfield Trophy honours, for rookies and less experienced drivers.
After initially slipping back, Marshall snatched seventh from Wesley Swain on the final lap, but it was still a career-best result for the teenager, who beat team-mate Kite into ninth. Caton completed the top 10, ahead of Jamie Petters and Jordan Brennan.
THRUXTON ROUND FOURTEEN RESULT
Round 15 – Race Report
As a double-header round, the second and final race of the weekend took place on Sunday morning, before the heavy rain arrived – although the track was not dry.
The grid was based on the previous day’s result, with the top 10 reversed, putting Caton on pole with Kite alongside, and Swain and Marshall on row two. As is often the case with the Milltek Sport Civic Cup’s reversed-grid races, it turned out to be an absolute corker.
It was Kite who led from off, chased by Marshall. Conventional wisdom suggests that the FN2’s less planted rear end would make it a handful around Thruxton’s incredibly fast sweeps – and Marshall proved that to be correct. But he didn’t let it slow him either.
The jovial north-easterner had a huge tank-slapper through the Complex on the opening lap, but managed to hold off Caton for second.
He then began pressuring Kite for the lead, and somehow managed to squeeze alongside on the inside at Church on lap two, while sideways! Kite’s momentum kept him in front but the Pro Alloys car ran wide through the Complex on lap three of nine, which let Marshall ahead.
McGill and Caton also joined the lead battle, with McGill managing to snatch second despite a sideways moment at the chicane.
The race was neutralised after an off for Jamie Petters, with Marshall leading from McGill, Kite and Caton. Files and Edmundson had risen to fifth and sixth, the pair making good progress despite clear reticence from Edmundson at times, no doubt conscious that – unlike Files – he has no dropped scores to fall back on.
Further spice was added by rain falling during the safety-car period and, on the resumption with three laps remaining, Marshall got sideways through the chicane.
That backed everyone up, with no overtaking allowed until they crossed the start/finish line, but they all behaved themselves – no easy task in such a competitive field and with tricky conditions.
Marshall’s car was again loose through the Complex, and this time McGill seized the opportunity to take the lead.
Caton got a run on Kite as he challenged for third, but a wild ride over the grass at Church sent him tumbling down the order. That gave Files and Edmundson another place each, and the multiple TCR champion then grabbed third from Kite at the chicane.
Could Files (or Edmundson) win from a row five start? It was looking doable. But on the penultimate lap, Files suffered a huge sideways moment at Church, which he somehow held onto.
With Files’s momentum checked, Edmundson got a run and passed both Files and McGill (having already dispatched Kite in the Complex) in one go. Suddenly the points leader was second and could sniff victory.
Marshall’s earlier exuberance appeared to leave him gripless in the closing stages, and he became a sitting duck, letting Edmundson seize the lead as they began the final lap.
The young gun wasn’t going to be caught from there and charged home to complete his weekend double. As Marshall plummeted to an eventual seventh, McGill and Camp came through for second and third, and Files recovered to fourth.
Kite managed fifth after Caton’s last-corner challenge sent the aggressor sideways and dropped him to eighth, Kent the beneficiary in sixth.
Swain was ninth, earning him Paul Winfield Trophy honours, well clear of Stevenson, Brennan and Jack Ruddell – who had just hopped out of a 1960s Ford Mustang in which he had contested the previous Classic Touring Car race!
Garry Townsend edged Simon Welch by just 0.2s to complete a weekend double in the Goodyear Diamond Award for drivers aged 30 and over.
THRUXTON ROUND FIFTEEN RESULT
The results leave Max Edmundson with a healthy advantage of some 47 points over Josh Files heading into next month’s season finale on the Silverstone International circuit (12-13 October). But with 40 points on offer for a win, plus bonuses for fastest laps and qualifying, it can all change in an instant.
Driver quotes
Rounds 14 &15 winner, Max Edmundson
“I don’t think I was the fastest car on the track, to be fair, but it was a good race.
“Every time I was going into a corner, someone ahead of me was going side by side, so I was seeing where they [might] come out the corner and trying to do the opposite. And most of the time it luckily worked!”
Next time – Silverstone International!
The 2024 Milltek Sport Civic Cup is back in action in less than 3 weeks, on Saturday 12th October and Sunday 13th October at Silverstone in Northamptonshire for the Silverstone Showdown.
With two races left to go, our 2024 champions will be crowned during the final weekend of the season.
Racing action will take place on the Saturday and Sunday with both days livestreamed on the official TCR UK YouTube channel.
You can purchase tickets for the final event of the 2024 season, at Silverstone on the International circuit, from their website: https://www.silverstone.co.uk/events/tcr-uk-touring-car-championship-season-finale
To find out more about the Milltek Sport Civic Cup visit https://civic-cup.co.uk/ for more info and how to get involved.
To find out more about the events on the 2025 Milltek Sport Civic Cup Calendar, visit https://civic-cup.co.uk/2025-season-calendar/ for more info.