First Ever UK School Student Motorsport Team Achieve Championship 4th Place in Class

Published by Queen Ethelburga's King's Magna on Thursday 26th of October 2023

Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate (QE) in York and driver, Arthur Simondet, are celebrating after achieving 4th Place overall in the Student Motorsport Challenge, a racing class within the BRSCC Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship. The team, QE Motorsport, who are the first ever UK school to compete in the Student Motorsport Challenge, are thrilled to have ranked so highly amongst a field of college and university teams and to break records never seen before. This news comes as the team achieved not only a 5th place in class finish at the last race meet of the season at Silverstone, but two previous class Runner Up podium finishes at Croft and Anglesey.

Driver, Arthur Simondet, commented that, “We’ve had an incredible season this year – I’ve mentioned it countless times already, but I’m amazed at how much the student team has evolved since Croft. At our first round, everyone was running around unsure of what to do or where to do it. Silverstone felt as if I was driving in my primary drive, with a professional endurance racing team. The students are incredibly well-positioned going forward into 2024 and in the meantime, we’ll relish our P4 in class.”

The team are also thrilled to have placed 3rd in the Pit Stop Challenge at Silverstone against the other 9 teams participating in the Student Motorsport Challenge. QE Motorsport Team Principal, Helen Snuggs, said that “The 4th place in the Student Motorsport Challenge and the 3rd place in the Pit Stop Challenge shows just how much the students have learnt, how much they have developed over the season and how well they have gelled together as a team. They have all worked so hard and have performed amazingly, experiencing everything from building a car to race meeting procedures, live pit wall timings and scrutineering. As the first – and only – school competing, we have broken records never been done before. Our driver, Arthur Simondet, has been so engaging and has won multiple fastest laps for the SMC (Novice) category in our car. The project has been such an adventure and a great success. We are now so excited for the next season.”