The Civic Cup – Rounds 1, 2 & 3
Brands Hatch Indy – 4th & 5th April 2026

New rules contributed to unpredictable action among a field of more than 30 cars as the 2026 Civic Cup season got underway at a busy Brands Hatch over Easter weekend.

Race wins were split between Wesley Swain, Wilf Butler and Jake Hewlett – all first-time victors – as newly-introduced success ballast added to the challenge facing frontrunners. But it was the consistent results of Matt Wilkins, with three top-five finishes, that mean he heads the early-season standings in the ultra-competitive championship.

Qualifying

Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Jake Hewlett set a blistering pace to repeat his pole position at the same circuit last autumn. The Mill Street Motors-entered Civic EP3 was a full three tenths of a second faster than its nearest challenger, Area Motorsport young gun Wesley Swain’s FN2.

Incredibly, the same margin covered the next 13 on the 31-car grid. Series veteran Alistair Camp was just 0.02s down on team-mate Swain’s similar car in third overall, with Matt Wilkins (Motion Motorsport EP3) another 0.01s back.

Jake Renshaw (Ben Sharpe Racing EP3) recorded his best-ever qualifying position, fifth overall, with Dave Marshall (DMR with KA Car Sales FN2) completing the points-paying top six.

Best of the debutants in a very impressive seventh overall was Junior Saloons graduate Wilf Butler (BSR). His former sparring partner, Louis Austin (Austin Autosport), was just 0.04s further back, sandwiched by the Petters brothers, Dan and Jamie, in their family team cars.

On second fastest times, which set the grid for Round 3, the only change in the top six was Swain dropping behind Camp and Wilkins to fourth. Neither of the Petters managed quite as strong a second lap, dropping them just outside the top 10. Behind Austin, eighth, Civic Cup convert Don De Graaff (Motion) and Spencer Stevenson (BSR) filled out the fifth row of the grid.

BRANDS HATCH INDY QUALIFYING RESULT

Round 1 – Race Report

Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Both Swain and Camp appeared to make better starts than polesitter Hewlett in Saturday’s first race. Swain challenged around the outside of the first corner, the sweeping downhill right-hander at Paddock Hill Bend, but had to slot into second, with Camp third.

That was the closest anyone came to Hewlett, who lapped within a tenth of his qualifying pace as he commanded the race out front.

Both Wilkins and Renshaw lost out at the start as Marshall and Dan Petters moved into fourth and fifth. Sadly, the latter’s race lasted only until half-distance when a broken driveshaft forced him into retirement.

But Marshall was revelling in the pace of his new-build FN2, which allowed him to keep up with the Area Motorsport versions in front. In fact, as the laps wore on, Camp was forced to increasingly focus his attention on the DMR car behind while simultaneously losing ground to Swain in front.

In the second half of the race, Marshall managed to nose alongside through Clearways and Clark Curve before completing the job into Paddock Hill Bend.

The top four remained static thereafter and, although Hewlett lost a little pace in the closing stages, he still took the flag nearly 3s clear of Swain in second, with Marshall completing the top three.

There was further drama to come, however, when Hewlett fell foul of post-race scrutineering for a non-compliant part. He was disqualified from the result, handed four points on his licence and would be forced to start Race 2 from the back of the grid while keeping the 40kg of success ballast he had earned.

So Swain was promoted to his maiden win in the championship; it might not have been the ideal manner, but it was thoroughly deserved for an impressive drive.  Marshall and Camp completed what became an all-FN2 podium.

Wilkins was classified fourth, while Stevenson climbed from 11th on the grid to claim fifth, making up most of the ground at the start. After Renshaw was pitched into retirement by a broken damper, De Graaf came out on top of a terrific scrap in the lower half of the top 10, ahead of Petters, Wilf Butler and Harry England’s self-entered, DMR-run car. The result earned De Graaf the honours in the Paul Winfield Trophy, for newcomers and those without a previous podium finish.

David Walsh (Motion) was 10th ahead of fellow debutant Harry McGovern (Area) and Charlie Constable (BSR). Having run well inside the top 10, Austin had to settle for 13th after being shouldered through the gravel.

Francisco Howitt (Area) and Josh Bromley (Bromley Motorsport) completed the points-paying positions. Bromley had recovered well after being frustrated by a misfire in qualifying and then being shoved through the gravel early in the race, eventually getting the better of Jack Ruddell (MJB Sports Cars) and Irish Fiesta Zetec champion Sean McGovern (Area).

BRANDS HATCH INDY RACE ONE RESULT

Round 2 – Race Report

Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

The second race of each weekend always features a top 10 reversal of the grid, leaving Swain and Marshall on row five and promoting Walsh and England to the head of the field. But, new for 2026, further spice is now added by the top five finishers being laden with success ballast for their next race.

As such, it would be hard work for the Round 1 podium trio to work their way through the order. But Marshall didn’t even have the opportunity to try, as he pulled into the pits on the green flag lap with his engine overheating due to a faulty thermostat.

Out front, Walsh converted pole into the race lead, with Butler jumping into second ahead of England. But it all went wrong for De Graaf on the first corner as his car slid into a tank slapper before firing off into the gravel.

Stevenson grabbed fourth, with Wilkins fifth and Jamie Petters slipping to sixth ahead of Camp, Constable and Harry McGovern before a safety car was called to retrieve De Graaf’s stranded car.

On the resumption, Butler belied his youth by executing a tremendous lunge inside Walsh as they braked for Paddock, successfully stealing the lead. Behind them, Stevenson braved it around the outside of Druid’s hairpin to take third from England.

Once in front, Butler displayed a pace that no one could match as he stormed to victory by 3.4s. His maiden win had come in only his second Civic Cup start and left the teenager delighted.

Walsh was almost as happy with second, just ahead of England, who pipped Stevenson to third. The second-placed Motion Motorsport driver had plenty going on in his mirrors, with his team-mate Wilkins less than a second behind him in fifth after an eventful race.

Wilkins had battled Jamie Petters early on, losing out through Surtees, which let Camp and Constable come past too. But he picked his way forward to grab fifth at the flag, just 0.3s ahead of Petters.

Bromley was also a man on the move. Delighted with the pace of his new-build EP3, the Midlander was the second fastest car on track as he climbed from 15th to seventh, passing fellow Derby man Camp in the closing stages. Carrying 10kg of ballast, Camp could only manage eighth.

Ninth in the ex-Lewis Kent car was former Clio Cup Mid-Europe racer Harry McGovern, who, like Constable (10th), had lost out to his younger brother Sean before the latter ran through the Paddock Hill gravel on the final lap, slipping to 15th at the flag.

Ruddell, Austin, Swain and Daniel Petters were also beneficiaries of that excursion. Laden with 30kg, Swain got swamped in the second phase of the start and found it difficult to recover ground. Petters, on the other hand, charged through from 28th on the grid to earn three points for his efforts in 14th overall.

BRANDS HATCH INDY RACE TWO RESULT

Round 3 – Race Report

Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Hewlett, who could only manage 21st from the back of the grid in Race 2, was out to prove a point in Sunday’s finale.

He did it in style with another commanding performance where he never looked like being beaten, taking victory by an eventual 3.4s, having been more than 5s up the road at times.

Behind the eventual winner, Wilkins got the better of Camp to take second at the start. Marshall, now risking running his car without a thermostat, further demoted the 2021 champion on the next tour. Swain was also having a tougher time than in Saturday’s opener, slipping behind both Renshaw and De Graaff.

While Hewlett escaped with a series of fastest laps, Marshall was putting the pressure on Wilkins. It took until the final third of the race, but the North-Easterner finally prised an opening and completed his pass into Paddock Hill Bend.

With less than five laps remaining, there was no time for Marshall to catch the leader – although he did make up some ground. But he was more than happy to bounce back with another podium finish, full of praise for engine builder Morgan Bailey, whose motor survived running at temperatures of 110 degrees.

Wilkins held off Camp for third, while Stevenson again raced strongly to climb to fifth. It was reward for team boss Ben Sharpe returning to base overnight to collect a new transmission after Stevenson had been experiencing niggling issues. The second BSR car of Renshaw was sixth, best of those eligible for the Paul Winfield Trophy.

Sixth on the road had in fact been Bromley after a stirring drive where he pulled off a number of passes in the closing laps. But a 5s track-limits penalty dropped him back to 12th in the closely matched upper-midfield.

Among those to benefit from Bromley’s penalty were De Graaff, Daniel Petters and Sean McGovern. The latter only just made it home as his left-front tyre delaminated as he crossed the line after some rumbustious exchanges also involving Constable (11th) and England (13th).

Ruddell ended a frustrating weekend for the reigning Paul Winfield Trophy champion in 14th, with Butler, 15th, another hit by a track limits penalty.

A little further back, Anthony Gannon completed a hat-trick of successes in the Goodyear Diamond Award, for drivers aged 40 and over.

BRANDS HATCH INDY RACE THREE RESULT

CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS AFTER BRANDS HATCH INDY RESULT

Ahead of the championship’s next event at Thruxton in May, it is Matt Wilkins who leads the early-season standings. The Motion Motorsport driver holds a seven-point advantage over Alistair Camp, with Spencer Stevenson a further two adrift.

Dave Marshall, the only driver to record two podium finishes at Brands, is fourth, 13 points off the summit, with race winners Wesley Swain and Wilf Butler completing the top six.

Butler holds sway in the Paul Winfield Trophy section, with Harry England and Don De Graaff best of the chasing pack.

Driver quotes

Round 1 winner, Wesley Swain

“It wasn’t the way I wanted to get my first win, but it’s nice to have the points and know that on track I was the fastest car.

“I think it’s going to be a positive to push forward now to get more results and fight for that championship.”

Round 2 winner, Wilf Butler

“Honestly, it feels amazing. I totally wasn’t expecting that coming into the weekend. Obviously, the reversed grid and the safety car helped, but it’s just an amazing feeling.

“Getting a nice move done after the safety car, and then I think the cars behind were battling, just enabled me to drive off with it really.”

Round 3 winner, Jake Hewlett

“That had to happen, didn’t it, after yesterday? We knew it wasn’t a performance-gaining thing anyway.

“But I’m, really, really pleased.”

Next time – we return to Thruxton

Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography