Final Standings

Daytona Sandown Park  Thursday Night League Season 3 2024: Shrubb & Bullard crowned champions

Twelve rounds of racing contested over six months of the year was set to come to an end on the 19^th  of December during the finale of Thursday Night League at Daytona Sandown Park.

Throughout the DMAX class Luka Nik emerged early as the championship favourite, taking a sweep in the first round of the championship. However, the arrival of Archie Bullard from the second round meant that Nik’s hopes were quickly swept away. Bullard proceeded to take four consecutive victories, only finishing outside of the podium (4^th) once during the remainder of the season. The battle for third was another interesting subject, as Steve Hannon initially looked very relaxed to take third spot. However, Charlie Foster took three victories on his way to a late comeback but he fell slightly short due to a very minor tail off towards the end of the season. The surprise package of the season was Ian Del-Pizzo, who shocked everyone with his sudden surge into third at the final round, earning a well-deserved third place on the podium.

As it happened…

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Shrubb started his championship crowning strongly by taking pole position in a relatively closely contested qualifying session. Rafael Blanco-Bush joined him on the front row, with Ayan Roy and Matthew Ridley making up the second row of the grid, all within seven tenths of the polesitter.

Any questions about the location of the championship trophy were answered quickly heading into the race, as Alfie Shrubb walked to a grand slam victory by eleven seconds, carving his way through the backmarker traffic in a very smooth manner.  He was joined on the podium by Rafael Blanco-Bush, who had a much quieter race in second, though his points were crucial for securing his spot on the championship podium. They were joined on the podium by Matthew Ridley, who had a great battle with Dean Sterling – who impressed on debut. Unfortunately, Sterling chose to not take ballast due to being a one-off entry and therefore was excluded from the overall results, bumping Ridley to third on the podium.

DMAX

DMAX qualifying is always set to be close in dry conditions under the lights at Sandown Park, and it did not disappoint. Archie Bullard has already wrapped up the championship but wanted to put the cherry on the cake, taking pole position by a mere two tenths ahead of Ian Del-Pizzo. Despite being an outsider in the race for third place, Del-Pizzo got out to a strong start, outpacing competitors such as Steve Hannon and Charlie Foster, both of whom qualified outside the top eight.

Bullard made it three wins in a row with another grand slam in the season finale, only losing the lead for a brief sequence of corners on the first lap, retaking it before turn six.  The intrigue was found in the battle for third in the championship. Already securing second, Luka Nik strolled home to third in the race – putting immense pressure on Ian Del-Pizzo. Del-Pizzo hung on bravely, managing to build something of a gap to Nik behind knowing that a loss of the position would spell an end for his top three hopes. As Hannon and Foster charged through the field, Hannon climbed all the way to fourth but could not find a way to catch up to Luka Nik in the closing stages, meaning he missed out on the top three therefore Del-Pizzo was able to secure it.

Daytona Tamworth Thursday Night League Season 3 2024: Chaplin & Foden crowned champions

The final round of Thursday Night League at Daytona Tamworth in 2024 saw the drivers meet with freezing air temperatures and a slippery track. With the top three in both championships already wrapped up, this was a chance for drivers to fight for the win without having to think about points.

As it happened…

N35-ST

Champion-elect Sam Chaplin took a dominant pole position in conditions he thrives in. He was over two seconds clear of Jude Lillyman in P2. With Nihal Joye failing to attend the final round, Lillyman was guaranteed P2 in the championship no matter where he finished. Ravi Jangra was in P3, looking to gain his first podium of the year, with Brent Deeley alongside him on row two. Emily Shelley made her return to the championship in P5 after a prolonged absence due to a broken hand.

The season ended with a race of attrition, as the inconsistent track surface proving tricky to master. Even Chaplin took an occasional spin. However, he did enough in the first half of the race to win by a very comfortable nineteen seconds, with Lillyman in P2 and Jangra taking an excellent first-ever TNL podium. Unfortunately he missed out on P6 in the overall standings by one point to his good friend Scott Coley, both of whom say they’ll be back for a full season in 2025.

Chaplin’s season has been defined by picking up consistent points under pressure. Due to the nature of Thursday Night League, he’s often found himself pitted against strong one-off opponents however, he was able to finish ahead of those who were consistent throughout the year, taking four wins and crucially eight podiums in the eleven rounds he’s attended. Jude Lillyman was the highest scoring driver in the middle third of the season, but some missed rounds early-on meant he was always having to chase the top drivers, but eventually was able to overhaul Nihal Joye, who battled hard with Chaplin at the start of the year. Some big mistakes in the second half of the season saw his championship challenge falter.

DMAX-GT

Like Chaplin in N35-STs, champion-elect Ben Foden began his victory tour with a solid pole position, four tenths ahead of runner-up-to-be Tom Duffy. The two of them well clear of Jude Lillyman, who having passed his DMAX assessment just weeks earlier, made a strong showing in his DMAX TNL debut, just minutes after collecting the N35 Runner-Up trophy. Lancaster University drivers Alex Horne and Elliott Price made their DMAX TNL debuts, Price having raced in N35-ST’s earlier this season, with regulars Sonny Zacharias and Piotr Wach also present.

The tricky track conditions saw a big field spread early on, however a huge incident for Zacharias at turn four with just five minutes to go brought out the red flag, bunching the pack together in the Full Course Yellow that followed. The five-minute shootout that followed brought this season of TNL to an exciting end, with a three-way battle between Foden, Duffy, and Horne for the win.

In the end though, Foden proved why he’s the champion, holding on to take the win by just over a second from Duffy in P2 and Horne in P3.

DMAX TNL this season has been the battle between consistency (Duffy) and raw pace (Foden and Jack Whitehouse in P3). Duffy was the only driver across both kart classes to attend every round, gaining a strong end to the season. This was enough to improve on his P3 that he achieved in season 1 of TNL earlier this year in N35-STs. However, with four wins and four P2s this year, with some fastest laps sprinkled in, it would have taken a mammoth of effort to overhaul Foden.

Daytona Milton Keynes  Thursday Night League Season 3 2024: Morris & Tiley-Gooden crowned champions

It was a very chill day for the final round of Thursday Night League at Daytona Milton Keynes, with the drivers having to contend with some very cold conditions.

As it happened…

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Barry Morris who had already wrapped up the championship yet again, took pole position from Phil Heath who had his best qualifying session of the season, taking second place and starting alongside Morris on the front row of the grid. Zoe Cattet in her first round managed to qualify just behind Heath in third.

During the race Noah Willis stormed to his first race win of the season by just three tenths and taking the fastest lap, which was all he needed to do to snatch third place in the championship by just a single point over David Rollins who only managed a sixth-place finish. Morris extended his championship lead by taking second place with closest rival Danby securing second place in the championship by finishing fifth in the race. Heath equalled his best result of the season securing himself the final spot on the podium in the final round of the season.

DMAX

In the DMAX category it was yet again Jamie Tiley-Gooden that took pole position by just a tenth over Lee Schnitzler in second place, who was looking to try and secure second place in the championship. Taking third was Nathan Boyle who was 1.2 seconds behind as he looked to secure himself third in the championship.

Tiley-Gooden showed why he was the champion as he stormed away from the pack at the front of the field taking the race win by seven seconds over Schnitzler, who did manage to secure second within the championship. Making it to the top three in the championship on the final podium of the season was Boyle, who finished twelve seconds over Tiley-Gooden at the front of the field.