Motorsport teamwork celebrates outstanding performances at race weekend finale

University of Wolverhampton Race Team (UWR) students and drivers are celebrating after securing two triumphant trophies over the course of the final race weekend of the season.

The students, studying for degrees in Aerospace, Automotive, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical and Motorsport in the School of Engineering at the University's Telford Campus, have spent the race season working behind the scenes to test, engineer and address any challenges presented on the racetrack. 

The team secured Class Championship in this year’s Morgan Challenge and UWR racing driver, Shane Kelly, bagged the Praga Driver of the Year award. 

The University is committed to producing graduates who can apply both theory and practice in the industry, offering them hands-on experience to equip them with real-world skills to boost their employability.    

This year, graduates have gone on to work for leading companies in the industry including Chris Dittman Racing – GB3 (Callum Disher), West Surrey Racing – BTCC (Erin Parry), McLaren (Ewan Bishop), K-Tech Racing (Ben Deavin) and K-Tech Suspension (Tryggvi Eiddson). 

UWR takes part in the IMechE Formula Student competition and are developing two Morgan Plus Fours for racing in the Morgan Challenge on behalf of the Morgan Motor Company. The team also raced in the inaugural Praga Cup last year after being crowned Formula Three Cup Class Champions in 2021 and took part in the Zeo Prototype Series this season. 

Having competed the Praga R1 alongside UWR teammate, Jess Hawkins, at some of the UK’s best racing circuits, including Silverstone, Donington, Brands Hatch and Snetterton, Kelly topped the driver ranking of seven Praga drivers, after celebrating two class wins and one outright win. 

Looking back on the series, Shane said: “This was our first season running the Praga R1 in the ZEO Prototype Series and the sprint race format benefited myself and Jess (Hawkins) given our backgrounds in F3 and W-series. Even with the shorter race format we had to be clever and still play a race strategy with tyres and weather changes. Being named Driver of the Year has been a great way to reward the students and the sponsors. My biggest highlight was Donington Park where we took the first Praga outright win, beating all Pragas and all other prototypes on the grid. 

“I have been very grateful to have an enthusiastic young team of students behind me all year, keeping a high level of professionalism at all times. We are fully committed to running the Praga R1 in 2024.” 

Kelly shared the UWR R1 with Aston Martin ambassador Jess Hawkins, the team’s first female racing driver, who also recently became the first female to test an F1 car since 2018, after testing the AMR21 at the Hungaroring in September. 

Kelly is a university mentor for the UWR Team and added focus on diversity within the team is boosted by title sponsor, Highclear Investments, led by local businessman and philanthropic entrepreneur, Walter Gleeson, whose ambition in backing the team is to increase diversity into engineering and motorsport, especially women. 

The 2024 ZEO Prototype Series will start on 17th March 2024 at Silverstone circuit as the first of five UK rounds. 

To find out more about the Praga R1 visit https://pragaglobal.com/cars/praga-r1/.  

For more information about courses at the University of Wolverhampton check out the website or visit one of our forthcoming Open Days. 

ENDS