Joining the series for the first time from the Spa-Francorchamps Radical Festival round last year, the duo put in a stellar performance to overhaul Team Challenge class leaders Anton Zakharov and Amir Feyzulin and seize the spoils at the final round, with a tally of eight class wins, six pole positions and seven fastest laps.
An outstanding debut season as a father-and-son driver pairing marked Chris’ welcome return to the Radical paddock for the first time in a few years, and Dan’s impressive switch from single-seaters and BRDC Formula 4 to the sportscar ranks.
Chris comments: “We are delighted to be back in Radical Challenge for the whole 2020 season to rigorously defend our Team Challenge championship trophy, supported once again by Graham Johnson's highly experienced Lanan Racing. The Team Challenge is a fantastic combination of endurance, sprint and strategy and last year we never had a dull moment. We are hoping for a repeat performance this year, but with reduced lap-times!”
Growing interest in the Team Challenge category, which allows drivers of any grade to share a 225bhp Radical SR3, is continuing into the 2020 season. Already confirmed to head-off the Headlams’ double title dreams are Audunn Gudmundsson and seasoned Radical racer and Approved Instructor, Tom Ashton, with the Radical Works Team.
Migrating to the series from Radical Iceland to make his racing debut in select rounds last year, Gudmundsson made great strides as he gained valuable experience in the Solo class, notching up a season best finish of sixth at Spa. With a full-season commitment for 2020, he’s looking forward to switching to Team Challenge with the support of Ashton.
He comments: “After doing a few races last year I wanted to try a different challenge, which is to race in the Team Challenge. Tom trained me at Snetterton last year and I really liked his training as well as him personally. He is a good and genuine person as well as being a very good driver. I decided to ask Tom to race with me because I believe he can help me evolve as a driver; I hope he can make me better. It will be interesting to see how much difference there is between us at the end of the season. How good I will be all depends on his training!!!”
Gudmundsson is certainly in experienced hands with Ashton’s guidance. The 34 year-old FIA Silver Grade driver, who finished second in the 2018 China GT Championship, has a string of Radical accolades to his credit, from the 2007 Clubman’s Cup title and 2009 UK Cup crown, to finishing runner-up in the 2016 European Masters.
“I’m really looking forward to racing with Audunn having done some coaching together in 2019,” says Tom. “He raced in Radical Challenge for the first time last year and showed good promise. Our target now is to get Audunn operating at overall top-ten pace. Drawing on my years of experience within Radical and working together, we can give him some fast-track racing and race craft experience, with a clear target for pace. He is a very capable driver and we’ll be aiming high, hoping to be in the fight to win the Team Challenge class.”
The 2020 Radical Challenge gets underway at Donington Park on 18-19 April. For further information visit https://www.radicalsportscars.com/go-racing/challenge-championship