In the third round of the Woods Foodservice Porsche Boxster Cup, Sarah Thomson, Faye Noble-Evans, and Sarah Wood all demonstrated significant progress and secured valuable points, with Thomson achieving a pair of sixth-place finishes, Noble-Evans two seventh-place finishes, and Wood improving her positions in both races.
The third round of the Woods Foodservice Porsche Boxster Cup saw promising results for the trio of female drivers. Sarah Thomson enjoyed the best results with the Scottish driver qualifying second, before securing a pair of sixth place results.
Faye Noble-Evans battled hard on her way to two seventh place finishes, while Sarah Wood made significant progress from her qualifying position of 22nd. On her first start at Oulton Park, Wood finished race one in 16th, before taking the checkered flag in 18th in race two.
After the opening two rounds of the Woods Foodservice Porsche Boxster Cup, the trio of female driver have all enjoyed a positive start to the season. Faye Noble-Evans has twice stood on the podium, while Sarah Thomson claimed victory on the road at Brands Hatch, before a track limits penalty dropped her down the order. Sarah Wood’s progress has been significant and all three drivers were targeting another positive event, this time on the Oulton Park International circuit in Cheshire.
Qualifying was held early on Saturday morning with all three drivers quickly out on track to improve their lap times in damp and tricky conditions. It was a fast start for both Thomson and Noble-Evans, who set overall best sectors during the first half of the session. Sarah Wood was also building up her confidence at a technical and challenging circuit which she did not visit in 2023.
At the end of the twenty-minute session, Thomson set the second fastest time and missed out on pole position by less than two tenths of a second. Noble-Evans was also in contention after qualifying ninth, with Wood in 22nd position.
Conditions were dry for the first race of the weekend with the drivers aiming to get up to speed quickly. It was a tricky start for both Thomson and Noble-Evans who fell to fifth and 11th respectively after the opening lap, with the safety car being deployed for an incident at the rear of the field. Wood meanwhile, made a great start and gained positions to moved into 18th.
As the race restarted, Noble-Evans moved forward and regained her position inside the top-10 with a pass on Vikram Sudera and she was now closing in on Thomson who was now in eighth.
Sarah Wood was down to 20th at the end of lap four, however she was directly behind Tom Hale and setting faster sectors than her rival. As the drivers gained confidence in the conditions, lap times improved significantly with Noble-Evans up to ninth position by the end of lap five. With the race entering the second half, Thomson and Noble-Evans were moving forward with Thomson making sizeable inroads on her rivals ahead.
On lap 10, Thomson moved ahead of both Perry Darling and Scott Evans and was now up to sixth, with Noble-Evans into eighth position. Sarah Wood was still battling hard with both Hale and David Hussey, beginning the final lap side-by-side with Hussey.
A good defensive drive saw Wood hold off her rival and take the checkered flag in 16th. Thomson continued to gain on those ahead of her and finished race one in sixth, with Noble-Evans in a credible seventh after ending the opening lap outside the top-10.
Race two of the weekend was also held in dry conditions with the grid formed from the driver’s second fastest laps in qualifying. As a result, Thomson started third, Noble-Evans ninth and Wood in 22nd position.
Thomson dropped to sixth at the end of the first lap with Noble-Evans remaining in the top-10, before both drivers began to move forward. After applying pressure to Scot Adams in the early stages, Noble-Evans moved into ninth on lap four following an issue for Perry Darling. This also elevated Thomson into the top-5, in what was now a comfortable fifth position.
Sarah Wood had made a fantastic start by gaining three positions on lap one, before defending well from the challenge posed by David Hussey. Returning to the top-10, Noble-Evans had now cleared Adams and also moved ahead of Barrington Darcy to claim eighth position.
Thomson was starting to come under attack from Ben Grewcock, with her rival moving ahead on lap ten before Sarah set a personal best time immediately after. An issue for Perry Darling then moved Noble-Evans into seventh, a position which she held to the checkered flag, running directly behind Thomson.
Meanwhile, Wood’s pace was improving in the closing stages as she held off Hussey to finish in 18th position while running her quickest time of the weekend on the final lap of the race.
The trio of female drivers continued their positive start to the season and enjoyed fantastic battles throughout the field. After battling tricky conditions in qualifying, two dry races saw the drivers improve with Thomson and Noble-Evans collecting valuable points with a pair of top-10 finishes.
Wood competed well and came out on top in her respective battles, gaining experience in her second full season of circuit racing. All three drivers will be targeting season’s best results when the Woods Foodservice Porsche Boxster Cup returns at Anglesey on July 13th for another single day event.