A Look Back at our 2020 Motorsport Team’s successes

As we await news on how motorsport will open up in 2021, we are working hard with our drivers and teams, engine builders and manufacturers to prepare for the season ahead. Despite so many of the non elite races being cancelled last year for car clubs and smaller events, many Motorsport events did take place, albeit behind closed doors and Witham Motorsport and Motul are extremely proud that our UK drivers and teams experienced some great results. We take a fond look back….

1. British Touring Car Championship Success: Tom Ingram & Speedworks sign off BTCC season with pole position and podium hat trick at Brands Hatch

Congratulations to our Motul supported driver Tom Ingram, Speedworks Motorsport and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Europe on an awesome performance in the BTCC! They finished 4th in the final standings, after deliering three wins, eleven podiums and a pole position this season. It’s been such a brilliant season to watch – and we look forward to more success in 2021.

Motul Oil used in 80% of BTCC Teams

Witham Motorsport, the official UK Importers and Distributors of Motul lubricants, are super proud that Swindon Powertrain Limited have produced the 2020 BTCC championship winning TOCA engine, using MotulTech lubricants. The TOCA engine has once again excelled within this year’s BTCC pack by supplying over 80% of all the teams in the series.

All original TOCA engine development has been carried out by the highly acclaimed Swindon Powertrain Limited, who are Motul Technical Lubricant Partners and recommend Motul X-Power 10w/50 engine oil for their TOCA Engines.

2. 24 Hour Le Mans: United Autosports Conquers Le Mans 24 Hours Race with Motul!

We were delighted to see that the Motul supported United Autosports team took the chequered flag to claim victory in the intensely contested LMP2 category at Le Mans 24 Hours in September.

This was a fantastic result – not only for this win but also for clinching the FIA WEC LMP2 Championship title – a first World Endurance Championship title for the team in its first year at the top of international endurance racing. Motul has been partnered with United since 2016 when the team claimed its first European Le Mans Series Championship.

3. Goodwood Speedweek: Andrew and Mike Jordan Win St Mary’s Trophy for 2nd Year Running

Well done to our Motul brand ambassador and his father Mike Jorgan for some amazing action at Goodwood Speedweek. For the 2nd year running the Jordan Race Team have taken home the St Mary’s Trophy at Goodwood using Motul fluids. Congratulations to the entire team and best of luck for the 2021 season!

4. Daytona Cobra – Silverstone: Motor Racing Legends at Silverstone

Congratulations to Calum Lockie who won the inagural RAC Historic Tourist Trophy 3 hour race in his Daytona Cobra at the Motor Racing Legends race weekend at Silverstone in October. We supply Calum and his team with Motul oils for his classic sports cars.

5. Historic Sports Car Weekend – Silverstone: Blakeney Garage Team Compete in Historic Race at Silverstone

Here’s the Blakeney Garage Ltd Mustang making its debut at Silverstone for the Historic Sports Car Club finals weekend. The car and team looking dapper with their Motul Classic branding! We are proud to be working with father anf son team Mark and Luke Davenport who we know through Witham Royal Warrant Holders initially and we’ll be supporting them going forward with their garage workshop and racing events next year.

6. BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship: Todd Crooks Motorsport Team Wins in Rallycross

Well done to Todd Crooks Motorsport who won 2 prizes in the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship this season. Todd won the Supermodified 2101cc and above class title and Helen won the Classic Minicross class title, in her first full season on racing! Both cars were using Motul oils.

7. Caterham 270R Championship 2020: Lars Hoffman Crowned 270R Champion

Motul driver Lars Hoffman has been crowned the 2020 Motul 270R Champion – and the final race was right down to the wire. Lars also successfully achieved the most number of pole positions in the championship.

8. Caterham 310R Championship 2020: Tom Gresinger Proud of 2020 Caterham Performance

Speedworks driver Tom Gresinger has had a great season in the Caterham 310R 2020 championship. Starting the season with a broken wrist, he didn’t even know if he’d get to race. But with hard work and determination from the fantastic team at Speedworks HQ, it was made possible. Tom commented, “I may have missed out on the championship win, but my performance this season is something I’ll always be proud of. Who knows what next year will bring, but whatever I do, I’ll be back fighting.”

9. Drifting Championship 2020

Driver Olly Silcock and JD Motorsport Engineering have had a great season in the British Drift Championship, using Motul oils, despite many events being cancelled. JDM are based in Norfolk and offer car preparation and fabrication services, as well as helping drivers and teams with all their motorsport engineering requirements.

10. Time Attack & British GT Championships: Tegiwa success

Congratulations to our customer Tegiwa who achieved a victory in the Time Attack Championship in their Honda NSX and picked up a trophy in the British GT in their BMW M4 GT4. The Tegiwa drivers, supported by Century Motorsport, use Motul 300v engine oil and RB700 brake fluid in both of the winning cars. Here’s Tegiwa’s summary of what their 2020 season entailed:

Our plan for the 2020 season was to do a full-season entry into Time Attack UK with our Honda NSX which was running a fresh K24 engine built by the guys at Skunk2 Racing over in America. As we’d not competed in Time Attack before I think it was fair to say that we were slightly apprehensive as to what we should expect as the calibre of car in the championship is very high. However, no sooner had we got to the opening round at Oulton Park than we’d picked up our inaugural victory in the series, the first of many to come!

Over the course of the season our NSX performed faultlessly, leading the majority of the season in the top spot and quickly becoming the car to beat. Although the Time Attack season was cut short due to the ongoing global pandemic, we’d done enough to secure the championship and take home the Club 2 wheel drive trophy! Alongside our ventures in Time Attack, we’d also secured a 2 round entry into British GT with our BMW M4 GT4. Our first outing was at Oulton Park where our drivers, Luke Sedzikowski and David Whitmore got some much needed seat time after missing much of the off season due to a delay with delivery of the car. With this being their first experience driving on slick tyres, it was a totally different ball game, with the new, unparalleled levels of grip taking their driving experience up a level.

Nevertheless, a solid performance from the car and our drivers saw them take home their first AM/AM trophy of the season, finishing 1st in their respective class. We then headed over to Donington Park for our second entry in the season. The drivers performed better than ever before and were closely hunting down their competitors. After a well fought race and battling a couple of technical issues, we picked up our second AM/AM trophy, again, finishing at the top of our class.

11. F1 Powerboat Race Series 2020: Team Enforcer win 2nd place in F1 Powerboat Series

Congratulations to Team Enforcer 922 who achieved 2nd place in the OCRDA National Powerboat Race Series this year and look set for a strong performance in the World Championships next year after a recent practice run at Lake Como in Italy. Here the team – brothers Nick and Jeremy Newsam – give a summary of their 2020 season:

We gave 922 a full engine rebuild over Winter 2019/Spring 2020, gained Motul/Witham Group and Antigravity Batteries as sponsors, as well as some more local businesses. Then along came Covid-19! We spent months thinking we would not be able to race during 2020, BUT we managed to secure two venues, resulting in 8 races this year during September and October. This was, of course, a somewhat reduced season compared to our normal 6 race weekends each year, but we were pleased with strong performances in all races this year which resulted in second place in the
National Championship.

Looking forward to 2021, we are planning a few more alterations to the boat which will reduce the overall weight and gain an extra few precious miles per hour. The National Organisation whose series we race in is also fortunate enough to be hosting the UIM 3A, B and J classes in our home town of Torquay in June 2021. This will be a very prestigious and well publicised event, which we are very excited to be taking part in. We took the long drive down to Lake Como in Italy to participate in a warm-up for next year’s World Championship, just to see what we were up against. Even though being the heaviest boat there, we achieved 5th in the Worlds, so with the alterations that we are doing, we are hoping for a much stronger potential placing in 2021.

Read more about Witham Motorsport, the Motul automotive lubricant range and how we support distributors, teams and drivers here.