Sunoco Challenge update – June 2018
The race to compete in 2019’s Rolex 24 At Daytona ratchets up a notch in the coming weeks when this season’s Sunoco Whelen and 240 Challenges enter the crucial second half of the year. The competition’s unique scoring system ensures both categories remain finely poised despite the deceptively large difference between their respective front-runners and pursuers. Take BRDC British F3 Championship leader Linus Lundqvist who currently tops the Whelen table by 9.92 points. His 102.5 season average was built on an incredibly consistent start to the campaign, while nearest rival Phil Keen (British GT3 Pro) has already experienced the sort of below-par results that could yet hinder Lundqvist’s chances of racing at Daytona. Stuart Moseley is best placed of the Radical Masters contingent in third, one place ahead of Lundqvist’s chief F3 rival Nicolai Kjaergaard who continues to recover from the non-scores that blighted an otherwise strong start. It’s a similar story for fellow Dane Nicki Thiim who’s vaulted back into contention following a recent run of British GT3 wins and podiums. Meanwhile, the Sunoco 240 Challenge – which offers its winner a fully-paid for entry in Daytona’s support race – looks to be a one-horse contest thanks to Kyle Reid’s storming start to the Mini Challenge Cooper season. However, his incredible 124-point average remains susceptible to a sudden drop should he fail to maintain the current string of wins, fastest laps and pole positions. Just ask nearest rival Steve Burgess, who now finds himself 21.78 points behind Reid following a troubled Radical UK Challenge round at Spa. Championship rival Dominic Jackson is just 3.33 points adrift thanks to a stellar outing at the same circuit, while Kelvin Fletcher’s increasingly impressive British GT4 Am performances have helped him also move into contention. F3 Cup driver Stuart Wiltshire completes the top-five.