Rounds 2&3 Anglesey
Fine Weather with Speed (and the odd moment!)
It's hard not to love the Anglesey circuit. Set on the coast with the sea and mountains in the background it’s a stunning location. When the weather is as fine as it was when the Speed championship visited its very special with a number of fast and deceptively technical circuit layouts, enough to wet the appetite of any driver.
Saturday (Championship Round 2)
Another great turnout of Porsche cars, some 19 in number lined up for a single practice of the National circuit layout. The temperature was cool and drivers reported the track to be a little short on grip first thing in the morning.
Saturday Practice
Quickest overall was David Dyson in the P2 class with his 991.2t and a rapid first outing time of 58.94 seconds. The next was Stephen Jory in his 944 with a 61.38 time, brilliant given it is a P4 class car.
In the classes Wayne Helme was the only P1 class car taking part this weekend. He took his road going car, a 718 GT4 to a 64 second practice time, but as we know Wayne reduces his time run after run so more was bound to be in the locker for the runs to follow.
While David Dyson was dominant in P2 a couple of cars in the class were close enough in practice to suggest a keen contest as the scoring timed runs unfolded. Andy Fagan , new gearbox fitted to his Boxster after Cadwell park, was quick in practice with a 62.22 second run while Nigel Watkins recorded an even quicker 61.72 run time in the 996 GT3.
The largest class was again P3 with 10 cars in the running. Jon Baldock in his modified Boxster was quickest in practice with a 62.13 time, a couple of seconds ahead of the next two cars ,Eoin Card and Simon Cristol, both running in the 64 second bracket.
In the P4 class Martin Leach in the 911E ended practice a little over a second behind Stephen Jory and his 944 with Jake Cartwright in his Boxster managing a 63.63 second run to go into the scoring runs in third place.
Saturday Scoring Timed Runs
With the event running smoothly under the care of Longton and District Motor Club a brace of timed runs was expected. The Championship only counts the first three however and so a run to safely secure points and perhaps one or two pushing the limit to gain a bit more was likely the plan.
The first of our three scoring timed runs was run before the lunch break. In P1 Wayne Helme took his 718GT4 to around a half second improvement. In his next two runs, as the air and perhaps more importantly the track warmed a little, he reduced his time still further ending the day with 62.11 best and a well deserved addition to his championship points.
David Dyson often starts nearly as quickly as he can go from the start and then does his best to make fine improvements. His middle run was his best on Saturday with a brilliant 58.06 second time taking the P2 class win from Andy Fagan in second, his Boxster breaking the 60 second bracket with a rapid 59.22 second time. Third spot went to Nigel Watkins who was a model of consistency, all three timed runs separated by just 0.32 seconds, his best, a neat 60 second time winning him third place in P2.
Geraint Evans was out with us again in his pretty silver 911 Carrera 3.0. The first of his scoring timed runs was his best securing him a well deserved fourth in the busy P3 class. Third and just a couple of tenths ahead was Simon Cristol who achieved a great 62.78 second time in the road legal Boxster. It was another road legal Boxster. Chris Milne was just 6 hundredths quicker to take a well deserved second in class. Nobody could quite match Jon Baldock on the day and his P3 class winning 60.89 time in the Boxster was one of the quickest across all the classes.
Hannes Tanzer, in his road legal P4 Class Cayman ended the day fourth in P4 with a very credible 62.84 second time. Jake Cartwright, revelling in improved speed of his Boxster was third in the class , his second run his best at 61.82 seconds.
Across the three scoring runs Stephen Jory held the P4 initiative over Martin Leach by around a second, Martin was close but just not quite able to coax the 911E into the 60 second bracket and he took second in class leaving the P4 win to Stephen and the 944 with a fabulous 60.41 second time.
So ended day one of our 2026 Anglesey adventure, sunshine and speed a plenty. In the evening we walked the circuit and after a meal in the circuit cafe hit the hay looking forward to another day of high-octane enjoyment.
Sunday (Championship Round 3)
We awoke to a lovely morning, warmer and less breezy. After breakfast the Porsche Cars were out first for practice. The circuit being used was the longer International circuit with more speed, more corners, more time to gain, or lose!
Sunday Practice
Wayne Helme. the sole P1 class runner put in a decent first run time of 102.74 seconds, the car sounding mean as he set off from the start line with the sea and mountains beyond.
In P2 it was again David Dyson who set the standard in practice with a 97.87 second run, a couple of seconds ahead of Andy Fagan and Nigel Watkins with it looking like the real battle in the class was going to be between those two for second and third spots.
Nearly seven seconds separated Jon Baldock from the rest of the P3 class runners in practice. The next best was Sam Rosenthal, a new driver to the championship but one who clearly has some speed potential. The third placed P3 car in practice, Ian Wadsworth in his 911SC/RS was just under 0.8 seconds behind Sam.
Martin Leach started his Sunday by leading the P4 class in practice, his 911E completing the course just over a tenth of a second quicker that Stephen Jory who in turn was just one hundredth of a second quicker than Jake Cartwright and his Boxster. Thomas Robinson was out for the first time this year in his smart P4 911 Carrera 3.0 looking lovely in the bright sunlight and running well.
Sunday Scoring Timed Runs
Wayne Helme found his best, a swift 99.52 second effort on his second timed scoring run. While in P2 David Dyson started the scoring runs with an improvement of over 1.7 seconds and then went on to find another 1.5 seconds to win the P2 class for the event with a best run time of just 95.32 seconds. Quite something when we remember that his 991.2t is road legal and driven to the events.
Also finding a significant time saving from his practice run was Andy Fagan who took his Boxster to a best of 97.65 seconds across three scoring runs securing second in the P2 class. Nigel Watkins had been nibbling away at his times arriving at his best of 99.50 seconds to take third in P2.
There had been a few spins during the day as the drivers understandably began to look for the limits on the warming track.
Ian Wadsworth had a spin on his second scoring run in the 911SC/RS but being an experienced campaigner, he didn't let it bother him too much and he recovered well to record a best of 102.64 seconds to take second place in P3. Also overcoming adversity with the help of his class mates, Sam Rosenthal secured third in the P3 class with a 103.05 second time. Sam had snapped a driveshaft launching his Boxster but in true speed championship style others rallied around and helped him fix the car without losing any timed runs.
The clear winner of the P3 class for the day was Jon Baldock, with an excellent and untouchable 99.43 second run adding to his two other championship round wins.
And finally, to the P4 runners. The times of the top three were close with Jake Cartwright recovering from a spin on his first scoring run to turn in a quick 101.81 time on his second attempt, enough for third in the P4 class. Jake was trying hard again on his third scoring run but pushed a little too hard on the long straight and suffered a coming together with the tyre wall. The car appeared to be very repairable and he vowed to be out minus tyre marks at the next round!
The battle for the win in P4 was between Stephen Jory and Martin Leach. Across all three scoring runs they were never far apart, but in the end a great 100.76 second time by Stephen and the 944 took the P4 class win.
A marvellous weekend, great weather, great driving and even better company! The next round is at the Mallory Park Circuit on April 26th, see you there ?
Simon Wilson
Championship Coordinator
Porsche Club GB
simonwilson@porscheclubgb.com