Team Viking Ursus Capital Racing Fun Cup France – Magny Cours
3 June 2025
Team Viking Ursus Capital Racing’s regular duo of Mark Holme and Colin Kingsnorth were joined by ex Monaco F3 winner Alan Ferte for 12 hours of Fun Cup racing at the former home of the French Grand Prix Circuit, Magny Cours.
After the qualifying session they were 19th out of the 73 starters, which saw them line up on row 10 of the grid. “I set the qualifying time on the last lap of the session. It just got quicker and quicker, so I pleased with that, and I think that was probably our rightful place,” said Mark.
Mark started the race too and completed a 78 minute stint before handing over to Colin. After the first hour they were 16th, gaining a place at the end of the second hour, but having gone a lap down on the leaders.
“I held the line at the start, but the top cars were really feisty, but we had good pace on a very hot day, which was beginning to peak with a midday race start. But the car had gone off a bit during Colin’s stint and we started to have brake issues,” Mark added.
With Alain in for the third stint, they mainly held station around 15th place, but having climbed to 11th by half distance, just 24 secs outside the top 10, the brake issues became more prevalent.
“Making a move on a fast section was difficult, as it was very unpredictable under braking and hard to make progress. But we pushed well, then four separate incidents eventually cost us dearly,” he said.
“I got hit at a hairpin when a driver locked up, no damage to our car but the spin cost us 15 secs and then Colin was hit at the second chicane too and that spin cost us 20 secs,” he explained.
But as the brakes issues worsened, they had slipped to19th at the eight-hour mark. “The brake compound had worn to almost nothing and even a finish was beginning to look unlikely. We had to change the fronts and that cost us another seven minutes. It was better when we rejoined, but into the night it was cooler, but the brakes were still grabby,” Mark added.
After 12 hours of racing and 317 laps they were finally classified 17th out of the 73 starters, 13 laps down on the victors.
“Then we were given a post-race penalty, three laps for a refuelling misunderstanding and that dropped us to 23rd, so a disappointing weekend,” he concluded.
