Oulton Park in October saw reigning F1000 champion Rob Welham round out arguably his most successful year to date, with an impressive double podium finish around the technical Cheshire circuit.
The goal of back-to-back championships ended just out of reach this year, mostly influenced by some mid-season technical challenges outside of Rob's control. While Tom Gadd had sealed the overall championship during the previous round at Silverstone, there was still the matter of settling positions 2 through 5 in the championship. A pair of battling drives at Oulton Park ensured Rob secured just the amount of points required to seal the desired runner-up spot.
Though a second title was of course the overall goal at the beginning of the season, the mood in the Welham camp was far from disappointed with the end result. In his fifth F1000 UK campaign, this year will go down as Rob's most successful one in the championship; achieving five wins (taking his total in the series now to an impressive 13), eight podiums, five fastest laps and three circuit champion awards. He also broke a long standing Jedi lap record around the Oulton Park Island layout at the final round.
To finish P2 in the championship with this win record is particularly impressive when considering that Rob suffered an engine failure and double DNF at Brands Hatch at the start of the year, which then also affected performance during the next rounds at Croft and Snetterton before a replacement unit could be sourced.
Despite these mid-season challenges, Rob made the most of the package at his disposal to ensure he still achieved some 'damage-limitation' results and solid finishes at each round to stay in the championship fight moving on to the penultimate event. Once the engine issues were all resolved, Silverstone then saw him add to his impressive tally of race wins this year with another two victories taking the season tally to five. It would have been a clean sweep but for a penalty in race three denying another win on the road...
All season Rob has raced with the consistency and maturity we saw last year in his title-winning breakthrough; always maximising the package under him and executing weekends flawlessly to bring home results across all three races. Furthermore we've seen Rob's trademark racecraft on full display, with some of his best performances coming in reverse grid races necessitating a drive through the field.
Congratulations to Tom Gadd for winning this year's F1000 title, who Rob has enjoyed competing against in some close on-track battles all season long. Rob now passes the baton of the number one over to Tom, and hopes to return to the series in 2024 aiming to add to his win tally and challenge for the title once again.
All photos by Richard Towler Photography