In challenging weather conditions, the Hagerty Radical UK Cup kicked off with an impressive display of racing at Donington Park. Chris Lulham of Valour Racing dominated the weekend, securing victories in both races.

The following is a race report from the weekend, courtesy of Steve Lickorish:

"Lulham is a real-world master

There was no disputing who the pacesetter from the Hagerty Radical Cup UK opener was as Chris Lulham Racing marked his return to real-world racing with two dominant victories.

The Valour Racing driver is part of Max Verstappen's eSports team, Redline, but was back in real-life action for the first time since a 2019 British Formula 4 outings.

However, Lulham did not have things all his own way in race one. Jason Rishover dived between front-row starters Lulham and Kristian Brookes into Redgate and proceeded to defend from Lulham, who admitted he did not get his Hankook rubber to temperature on the green-flag lap in the freezing cold.

Eventually, Rishover's robust defences were breached on lap eight of 27 as Lulham surged ahead as they encountered traffic in the Craner Curves, with Brookes also sweeping through. From there, Lulham was untroubled and won by 15 seconds. "That was pretty intense," he said. "It was a bit of a wake-up call - the real-world racing was much more aggressive than sim racing."

Lulham then led throughout race two, despite a lengthy safety-car period as a telehandler got bogged down in the Donington Park mud, and receiving contact from Brookes when Lulham left it very late to accelerate away on the restart."

A fantastic opener to this year's campaign. Hard work has paid off and appreciation goes to all that have helped and the team at Valour Racing for the preparation before and support on the event.

You can view images from this event in our Gallery by clicking here.