The trio of female drivers in the Woods Foodservice Boxster Cup faced challenging wet conditions at Donington Park, with Faye Noble-Evans finishing fourth in race one, Sarah Thomson displaying overtaking skills to finish 14th in race two, and Sarah Wood showing progress by securing a top-20 finish.
The latest round of the Woods Foodservice Boxster Cup produced mixed results as the trio of female drivers faced changeable conditions at Donington Park. Faye Noble-Evans was the most successful of the three racers as she secured a fourth-place result in race one.
Sarah Thomson battled hard in the midfield and finished both races inside the top-15, displaying pace which often rivalled those inside the top-10. Sarah Wood’s fastest race lap of the weekend came in a damp race two, underlining her progress as she clinched a top-20 finish in the largest grid of the season.
The 2024 Woods Foodservice Boxster Cup has seen great success for the trio of female drivers during the season to date. Arriving at the penultimate round of the championship fifth in the overall championship, Sarah Thomson was looking to return to the podium as she tackled the Donington Park Grand Prix layout. Despite missing the previous round of the season at Croft, Faye Noble-Evans remained eighth in the championship while Sarah Wood was looking forward to returning the circuit at which she scored her season’s best finish at to date.
Qualifying took place on Sunday morning with all three sessions taking place across one day. It was an uninterrupted session and this allowed the trio of drivers to get up to speed and find a good rhythm at a circuit they were familiar with.
Faye Noble-Evans was the highest qualifier with a strong penultimate lap which placed her sixth overall. Sarah Thomson qualified 11th, just half a second away from the third row of the grid and with potential to challenge those inside the top-5. It was a challenging session for Sarah Wood who was extremely consistent, without the outright speed she was aiming for, as she qualified in 25th position.
Conditions were vasty different for the first race of the day which took place on Sunday afternoon. Rain was falling and the track was wet which necessitated an extra formation lap prior to the racing getting underway. Noble-Evans adjusted well to the change in conditions and gained two spots on the opening lap to move into fourth, while Thomson held 11th and Sarah Wood gained one position to move into 24th spot.
It was an encouraging start for the trio of female drivers with Noble-Evans setting the fastest middle sector of the race on lap two, while Thomson overtook both Graham Heard and Barrington Darcy. Sarah Wood was also moving forward and on lap three, she moved ahead of Heard while battling closely with Nick Lawrence. After a good opening portion to the race, Thomson was beginning to struggle in the tough conditions and fell back to 12th, while now coming under pressure from the next group of drivers.
On lap five, Noble-Evans had moved into a provisional podium position after Scott Evans retired to the pit lane. The following lap saw the safety car deployed for an incident deep in the field, with Noble-Evans running third, Thomson 12th and Wood now up to 20th position after benefiting from incidents ahead of her.
As the racing resumed, Noble-Evans held third position confidently while Thomson continued to battle hard in the midfield. Despite her best efforts, she slipped to 14th after losing out to Mike Thompson and Scot Adams. On the penultimate lap, Perry Darling was able to find a way ahead of Noble-Evans to claim the final position on the podium with Faye taking the checkered flag in an excellent fourth. Thomson fell behind Martin Mason on the last lap to finish in 15th position, while Sarah Wood pulled clear of Lawrence in the closing stages to end race one in 20th.
Conditions for the second race of the weekend remained predominantly wet, although the rain had stopped falling at Donington Park. The grid was based on the second fastest times in the dry qualifying session with Thomson starting eighth, Noble-Evans ninth and Wood in 25th position.
It was a challenging start for the two drivers starting inside the top-10 with Noble-Evans falling to 13th at the end of lap one, while Thomson had a spin which dropped her to 24th. Sarah Wood, meanwhile, gained three positions and looked poised to make further progress.
Noble-Evans continued to slip back in the early stages of the race as the challenging conditions made setup decisions tough. By the end of lap three, she was down to 16th while Thomson had started a recovery drive and was back inside the top-20 by the end of the fourth tour. After overtaking David Hussey, Wood had lost out to Thomson but was enjoying one of her most competitive showings to date.
On lap six, Noble-Evans and Thomson switched places as their contrasting races continued with Sarah’s recovery drive now taking her to the fringes of the top-15. As she moved into 15th on lap eight, she ran her fastest lap of the race and was now lapping on-par with those inside the top-10. Sarah Wood was also improving her times and was almost matching her quickest time from qualifying, despite track conditions being significantly more treacherous.
Into the closing stages of race two, Noble-Evans remained consistent but had fallen to 20th position and was now under attack from Wood who had now ran the fastest lap of her event. After overtaking Martin Mason, Thomson was into 14th position and this is where she finished to complete a good charge through the field. Noble-Evans just held off Wood as the two drivers finished the race in 20th and 21st position respectively.
It was a challenging end to the weekend for the trio of female drivers as they battled tough conditions at Donington Park. Nonetheless, all three drivers showed good performance with Noble-Evans narrowly missing out on another podium finish.
Thomson showed her overtaking skills in race two, while Wood displayed excellent progress as she adapted superbly to difficult track conditions. The season finale for the Woods Foodservice Boxster Cup will take place at Snetterton on Sunday October 6th.
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