Motorsport Finance News

On Sunday we were delighted to be part of the BTCC event at Snetterton, our first live motorsport event since 2019, and it was great to be back!

Excelr8 Motorsport who we have had a strong relationship with for many years had a fabulous day with two podiums. They also had their first win for the team in the series.

With fans trackside for the first time in more than 18 months, the racing did not disappoint, and everyone was in a jubilant mood. Only around 4,000 fans were allowed tickets for the Sunday, but the smaller crowd didn’t alter the atmosphere. Unfortunately due to these ongoing restrictions we could only invite four guests to join us, but they were certainly given a day to remember!

Huge congratulations to Excelr8 Motorsport, and to everyone that made the weekend so successful. It was wonderful to see everyone enjoying the racing again.

For more information on Credo Motorsport Finance please contact us on 01603 381955 or e-mail [email protected]

Credo were invited to view the Formula 2 car at Virtuosi Racing’s headquarters in Attleborough before it started its journey to Bahrain ready for testing in a week’s time.

UNI-Virtuosi had another fantastic season in 2020 finishing in second place in the Formula 2 Championship. They are aiming to build on this success again this season. In the previous two years in F2 the team has secured eight pole positions, 26 podiums and eight race wins, earning second-place finishes in the teams’ championship both years. The team enters its third year with a strong line-up of Felipe Drugovich and Guanyu Zhou.

We wanted to find out more… so we asked Team owner Andy Roche his thoughts on racing during a pandemic in 2020, what’s new for 2021 and his hopes for this season ahead!

Credo: Last year must have been difficult with the compressed calendar, strict social distancing rules and Covid-19 testing, but you performed brilliantly, claiming as many pole positions as the rest of the field combined and finishing second in the team championship standings. What’s your ambitions for this year?

Andy: “Yes, last year was very difficult and it was great that we had such a successful championship, obviously next year we need to win the drivers and teams championships, finishing second for two years in succession hurts a little so next year we have to win.“

Credo: You’ve retained Guanyu Zhou for the 2021 season, to race alongside a new driver, Felipe Drugovich. What made you choose the two of them to represent UNI-Virtuosi?

Andy: “Well with Zhou it was an easy choice, he has been with us for two years so we know each other well, can hopefully hit the ground running and he can be winning races from the start. I had been watching Felipe through 2020 and he had some spectacular drives, he is obviously very talented and in his second year of F2 I hope he will be ultra-competitive ,with these two drivers I hope we can have a real shot on both titles.”

Credo: I understand there are 3 races over the weekend this year, what impact will this have on the team?

Andy:  “This will obviously make the weekends busier but I don’t think it will impact the team too much, its just a question of being organised.“

Credo: What effect did the lack of crowds have on the drivers? With the Governments roadmap leading to all restrictions being lifted in June, there will no doubt be a sell out for the Silverstone event, that must be really exciting for the team.

Andy: “My feeling is that the lack of crowds had little affect on the drivers, when the lights go green they aren’t thinking about anything else other than the race, of course it did reduce the amount of media activities the drivers had to do over the weekend so I don’t think they were that unhappy about the crowd situation.“

Credo: What changes have there been to the cars this year?

Andy:  “Other that the colour scheme nothing has changed from last year.“

Credo: What’s your secret for working so well together as a team?

Andy:  “Consistency, communication  and a good mix of experience and youth.“

Credo: The question everyone wants to know – how quick can your team change a tyre?!!

Andy:  “Ha, well in practice we regularly see changes in the 3 to 4 second bracket but realistically in the race situation it is generally a little slower, in the 4 to 5 second region.“

Thank you Andy for that great insight into running a Formula 2 team. It sounds like you have everything in place to have another successful season, and we agree with you here at Credo, you deserve further success in 2021 and we will all be watching cheering on a local success story!

With the Lockdown still with us for quite a while yet, we are all feeling a bit of cabin fever, but fear not we have an exciting announcement to make…

The Canaryball Rally 2 is on its way!!

For those of you that don’t know what the Canaryball Rally is, please have a look at the last trip we organised back in October 2019. It gained significant local and national coverage, was huge fun for those who took part, and most importantly a huge success, raising more than £75,000 for the Norwich City Community Sports Foundation #buildthenest campaign – click here for The Canaryball 1 info.

Some of the feedback from our Canaryballers last time:

“Fantastic company, team spirit, great organisation”

“It was an absolute ball! Such a nice group of people and made some great new friends”

“It was fantastic, so much fun, the way the teams interacted and told their story through our whats app group, one big family”

The Canaryball Rally 2 will be different from the last trip, as we are swapping Europe for the UK, and the football stadiums will be replaced with Highland Cows, the Loch Ness Monster, and dulcet tones of a piper, but certainly no less fun!

So, what can I share with you at this time…….

• Destination – UK based – starting at the Nest and travelling to Scotland!
• Date – Provisional dates of Weds 15th September – Sunday 19^th September 2021
• Accommodation – There will be a different range of options available to participants to suit all budgets
• Entertainment – The Scavenger hunt we created for Canaryball 1 was great fun and added to the excitement of the challenge. We are already on the case with that one ?
• Cost – You will need to cover the cost of fuel, accommodation and your own food.
• Fundraising – We still want to raise money to support the brilliant work the Community Sports Foundation continue to do in a time where charities are finding it very difficult.  However, we do appreciate it is a difficult time for everyone so we have decided that the minimum target for each vehicle will be £2,000, with the scope to raise more if you can.

From the experiences we had last time, we know just how much fun we can have and once again, each day will be fun packed with fantastic scenery and fabulous places to visit.

Interested in finding out more?

Our numbers are restricted to 25 cars. If you are curious and want to find out more, then please register your interest as outlined below. There is no obligation to take part for anyone who registers, but it means we can invite you to our ‘launch evening’ (which will be on zoom) and send you a full pack of information so that you can decide whether this fantastic trip is for you, your business, or as a group of friends!

What to do now?

All you have to do is send a quick e-mail to register your interest to Fran Brown at Credo – [email protected]

Tom Lebbon (15) made history by securing the 2020 Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship title following a tense season finale at Brands Hatch in November. Credo has supported Tom since his karting days and were thrilled to see Tom win not only the Rookie Championship, but the overall Championship title as well.

Tom wrote to us during the Christmas break…

“What a great year it has been, from winning the Ginetta junior scholarship last October to winter testing in Spain plus preseason testing at various tracks during the first few months of 2020. This was in preparation for the TOCA support race weekend.

Then COVID 19 hit the UK and everything ground to a hault. The time table was rearranged to commence in July of 2020 with round 1 at Donington park. I came away from the first 3 races third in the championship and with a ‘double pole’ in qualifying.

The races went from strength to strength and I achieved my first win of many at the second race weekend at Brands Hatch GP. From there on I felt my confidence growing as I picked up more pole positions and fastest laps along the way alongside plenty of podiums.

However, at Silverstone it was a disaster with a win taken away with a penalty and a roll over crash in the second race and driving a wounded car in the third race.

I put this behind me and for the next race weekend in a new car at Croft circuit I once again secured double pole and a second and first place finish in both races. 

The weekend after at Snetterton circuit was almost perfect with me doing ‘the triple’ and winning all three races being the first to do so. We had gone from 74 points behind in the championship to just 9 now. We also secured the rookie championship at the same weekend as this.

We went into the last weekend on the front foot and confidence on our side. I knew that I would just need to beat my two rivals on track to win the championship. After a strong qualifying and a second place in the first race I managed to take the championship lead going into the last race. I brought the car home when securing second place on track to come home with the championship and being the first rookie ever to do so.

I would personally like to thank you for the support and help this year and hopefully into the future in my career.

I appreciate your help and guidance throughout these recent times with helping me win the Ginetta Junior Championship overall as the first ever rookie.

After a tough season full of ups and downs throughout to come out with the overall championship and the rookie championship it is just special to me, this would not have been possible without the support of you”.

Best wishes

Tom

Thank you for the kind words Tom. We take sponsorship very seriously, and we always follow your progress and support and encourage you where we can. It has been so difficult this year as we haven’t been allowed to visit the circuits, but we are hopeful this will be possible this year and we can cheer you on again!

Good luck for 2021!

Tom Lebbon (15) has made history by securing the 2020 Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship title following a tense season finale at Brands Hatch this weekend.

Credo have supported Tom since he was 11 when he was karting, and it is wonderful to see his dedication and professionalism continue on and off the circuit.

This is an amazing achievement as he has become the first Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner to take the title in their maiden campaign.

On top of this, Nathan Harrison was crowned champion in the Quaife MINI CHALLENGE JCW Class, after coming in 2nd position last year.

Nathan was thrilled to win and commented on the MINI Challenge website: “This is a fantastic result. I cannot thank my team and sponsors enough for the support they have given me throughout the year. In MINI racing anything can happen, so for this weekend I had a really calm mindset, taking it all race by race, but thankfully we’ve sealed the deal.“

Nathan came 2nd in the Championship in 2019 by only a couple of points, and Credo’s founder, Simon Gray was very keen to support Nathan this year. Tragically Simon passed away in September from a short battle with cancer so he won’t see this, but he would have been truly over the moon.

We are delighted that both Nathan and Tom won the Championships they truly deserved, and we can’t wait to hear what their plans are for next year.