Charlotte Birch makes encouraging return to Milltek Civic Cup

Charlotte Birch made a positive return to the Milltek Civic Cup at Donington Park, securing top-20 finishes in both races and earning valuable championship points as she aims to push further up the grid in her 2025 campaign with Vinna Sport.

Photo credits: Vinna Sport

Charlotte Birch enjoyed a positive return to the Milltek Civic Cup at Donington Park as she secured a pair of top-20 results. The Vinna Sport racer drove smartly throughout the weekend as she began her 2025 campaign with a good haul of championship points. After qualifying in 16th, Birch finished race one in 17th before ending the event with a 19th place finish in race two.

Birch returned to the Milltek Civic Cup following a partial campaign in 2024. The Vinna Sport driver supplemented this with appearances in the Track Action Series in which she was both a class and overall race winner in her Honda Civic Type R EP3. Now looking to work with teammate Franscisco Howitt to push further up the grid in 2025, Birch was confident of a strong start to the season.

Qualifying was the only on-track action on Saturday with the single 15-minute session used to set the grid. Birch made a strong start to the session and was running in 12th position following a mid-session red flag interruption.

The session resumed for a final eight minutes and the drivers spent their initial laps bringing their tyres up to temperature. On the final lap of the session, a new personal best time saw Birch set the 16th fastest lap while the Vinna Sport driver was less than one second away from the top-5.

For the first race of the weekend on Sunday, the track was dry with damp patches away from the racing line after earlier rain. Birch lined up from 16th on the grid and used her experience to make a good start as the Vinna Sport machine gained one position on the first lap. Although Charlotte then fell behind Wesley Swain and Daniel Petters, her pace was strong in the early stages.

In the middle portion of the race, Birch continued to hold 17th position while pulling away from the drivers behind. This enabled her to focus on catching Petters and a series of personal best times saw her cut the gap. On lap eight, a personal best time from Birch reduced the margin to less than half a second as she mounted a late-race charge. Just running out of time to make a move, Birch ended her first race of the season in 17th position to bank a solid haul of championship points.

Grid positions for race two of the weekend were set by the results of race one with the top-10 reversed. Therefore, the Vinna Sport driver lined up from 17th on the grid as the light began to fade at Donington Park. Birch made a clean start and although she fell to 20th at the end of lap one, she was fighting hard to regain the lost positions.

On lap two, Adam Jackson ran wide at Redgate and this promoted Birch to 19th before the race settled into a rhythm. Birch initially pulled clear of the drivers behind and she was soon into 18th after Josh Bromley encountered a technical issue. Aiden Mitchell started to close in during the middle portion of the race and on lap seven, he moved his Honda Civic EP3 ahead.

Mark Hughes then began to cut the margin to Birch, however the Vinna Sport driver responded with back-to-back personal best times. Although Hughes was just half a second behind, Charlotte was driving confidently to hold off the experienced racer. A strong end to the race saw Birch hold her 19th position to the checkered flag to complete an encouraging opening event of the season.

Birch finished both races inside the top-20 at Donington Park as she gained further experience in the competitive one-make championship. Now looking to push towards the top-15, Charlotte will be aiming to build upon this positive start of the season when the Milltek Civic Cup returns at Brands Hatch on the weekend of 19th/20th April.