Donington Park was the venue for EnduroKA’s season opener in 2022 and, as with last year, it certainly didn’t disappoint! The 45-strong grid provided plenty of entertainment over the course of an epic five hour race, with constant battling throughout the order and some impressive driving on display.

The  inaugural qualifying session of the year took place on Sunday morning, with IP Racing mustering pole position at Donington for a second consecutive year, narrowly edging out Turn 7. Track Focused and Wolf Motorsport rounding out the second row of the grid, with last years victors Octane Junkies lining up in P14, highlighting the highly competitive nature of this years’ field.

Despite their fantastic qualifying effort, a tough start to the race saw IP drop to P9 after the first hour, making way for Track Focused and Wolf Motorsport to duel it out for the lead . At the one hour classification, just 0.509 seconds split the front two!

A mega stint from Wolf Motorsport’s Luke Reade saw his team comfortably ahead at the two hour mark, before a timely safety car seemingly presented a great opportunity for the team to gain a ‘free’ pit stop and maintain the lead. However, it wasn’t meant to be for the #26 car as their afternoon was cut short with mechanical issues forcing retirement.  

Following a stint at the front for Windgat Racing, it was Track Focused who had regained the lead ahead at the half way stage, ahead of Yippee-KA-yay and IP Racing. It became apparent that pit-stop strategy was going to be crucial to how the race would eventually finish.

As the clock ran down, Axiametrics seized the opportunity to head the pack, before a sterling stint from Ben Gilas capitalized on his teammate Mark Johnson’s earlier efforts to ensure the top step of the podium was secured for Car #67 – Yippee-KA-Yay.  Michael McCollum, Sean Cooper and Neil Smith finished second for Track Focused, with Adam and Martyn Smith of Octane Junkies completing the podium. Impressively after 172 laps, all of the top three finished on the lead lap.

The inaugural Dagenham Dustbin of 2022 was awarded to newcomers Kamel Racing, who’s bright and inventive livery caught the eye of marshals, competitors and spectators alike! There was fierce competition for the prestigious prize though, with a number of the fantastic looking cars on the grid.

If Donington Park was anything to go by, it’s going to be another fantastic year of EnduroKA!

Photos from the day will be released over our socials in the coming days, so make sure you’re following to not miss out. 

Photo accreditated to Gary Hawkins.