Driver standings

2008 and 2009 Radical UK Cup Champion Derek Johnston Wins the Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco after Rob Garofall suffers terrible bad luck at Silverstone 10th of October.

What a success for Radical UK Cup racer Derek Johnston. Derek had to win both races at Snetterton last weekend 26-27th of September to be the one that could challenge Rob Garofall for the Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco. And in what a style he did deliver by winning both races easily with co-driver Stuart Moseley after handing over the Radical SR8 in halfway through the race to Stuart with an over 20 seconds lead. By dominating the Snetterton weekend Derek also became the 2009 Radical UK Cup champion for second year running!

As the points are average points per race (APPR) Derek's performance at Snetterton improved his APPR from 73.00 to 77.50 making him bump 2009 British F3 Champion into 3rd position in the Driver Challenge and the only remaining racer that can challenge Rob Garofall. This means that Rob has to maintain his APPR at the 3hr SPEED Silverstone final 10th of October by scoring no less than 72.50 points. 1st position bags Rob 100 points, 2nd 75 points, 3rd 55 points and 4th 40 points. He can also earn 20 bonus points for pole position and fastest race lap each. This means that Rob has to finish 2nd or higher, alternatively 3rd and set fastest lap or pole position or finish 4th posting pole position and fastest lap - a tall order but it could have been done!

At Silverstone f 10 th of October Rob qualified the NORMA CN prototype on Pole Position and in doing so bagged 20 points which now meant that it was enough to finish 3rd in the 3hour race. Simon Phillips, Rob's team partner, started the race with the brief - keep it on the road and be consistent around 1.25 seconds per lap. 30 minutes or so into the race safety car was called bunching the grid together which played nicely into Rob and Simon's plans. However, disaster struck during the safety car period and the compressor that feeds the high pressure air canister that feeds the gear change mechanism failed prompting an urgent pitstop and emergency repairs seeing the duo loosing 5 laps. As Rob jumped 1 hour and 15 minutes into the race they were 6 laps down and to make sure that they got the fastest lap the team decided to put on a new set of slicks. Rob drove brilliantly and claw back lap after lap and had the Driver Challenge trophy in sight when again disaster struck and the left rear wheel came loose... the car had to be rescued on a flat bed truck loosing the team another 25 minutes (20 laps) which meant that it was totally impossible for Rob to finish top 3 and win the Driver Challenge.

Derek Johnston could not believe his luck when we called him in Dijon where he was racing for the Radical European Masters which Derek and Stuart Moseley manage to win on Sunday the 11th.

Therefore, enormous congratulations to Derek Johnston for winning the 2009 Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco and at the same time winning the Radical UK Cup and the Radical European Masters - what an amazing tripple success!

Latest News - Derek tests a Daytona Prototype at Virginia International Raceway for Spirit of Daytona team
Derek will now embark on an amazing journey to get up to grips with the demanding and challenging Rolex 24 At Daytona. Not only has Derek to learn how to drive a Daytona Prototype race car, a new circuit and work with new team mates but also the tactics of endurance racing. Derek is extremely excited of course and we are all looking forward to support his efforts 30-31st of January next year.

Preliminary agenda:
1st of November AM, visit Spirit of Daytona shop for seat fitting and introduction to team members.
1st of November PM, visit Daytona circuit going through race lines with 2004 Rolex 24 winner Terry Borcheller
3-4th of November testing with Spirit of Daytona at Virginia International Raceway coached by Guy Cosmo

8-9th of December testing at Daytona with Spirit of Daytona

8-9th of January testing at Daytona with ?? (team to be decided)

14-17th of January Autosport Racing car show on our stand 6565 demonstrating iracing.com simulator (come and compete against Derek)

28-29th of January pre-race testing at Daytona for the Rolex 24 At Daytona

30-31th of January racing at the Rolex 24 At Daytona with ??? (this is a secret and will be relieved in due course)

Here are the final top ten standings as of 11th October

Standings	Driver Name	Team	Series	Total Points	Total Indexed Points	Average Points Per Round
1	Derek Johnston	MSW Racing - Radical Works	Radical	930	775.00	77.50
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Carlin Motorsport	F3	1510	755.00	75.50
3	Allan Simonsen	Rosso Verde - Ucb	GT	1010	721.43	72.14
4	Rob Garofall	Counter Solutions Racing	Speed	345	690.00	69.00
5	Sam Hancock	Jota Sport	Speed	320	640.00	64.00
6	Ross Kaiser	360 Racing	Radical	762	635.00	63.50
7	Godfrey Jones	Preci-Spark	GT	825	589.29	58.93
8	David Jones	Preci-Spark	GT	825	589.29	58.93
9	Barry Gates	RLR Motorsport	Speed	290	580.00	58.00
10	Anthony Dunn	RLR Motorsport	Speed	290	580.00	58.00

Click here for the full standings

Participating series for 2009 are: Cooper Tires British F3 International, Avon Tyres British GT Championship, Radical UK Cup and SPEED Sports Prototype Racing.