The fifth round of the 2026 EnduroKA season did not disappoint around the challenging Oulton Park Circuit, with safety cars and strategy calls defining the five-hour race.
Qualifying
The EnduroKA grid got their Saturday underway with a 45-minute qualifying session around the challenging Cheshire circuit.
Teams were stumped early in the session by a safety car, before being let loose to set the grid for the five hours of Oulton Park.
MilnAir Racing led the way as they qualified on pole position in search of their fourth win in a row. Their time of 2:16.500 was narrowly ahead of round one winners Sukaru by just 0.055 seconds.
KaHoona’s Race Team and Ka Tastrophy shared the second row, with Kaston Martin rounding out the top five. Rustic racing, who had qualified 18th, lost their qualifying position after officials disqualified them for being underweight.
Race
As the 27 KAs barrelled down towards Turn One, Sukaru took the lead ahead of MilnAir, with Jacob Wright maintaining the pressure right on the #555’s tail.
The opening laps weren’t without more drama, as Chickspeed Motorsport found themselves in the barrier and unfortunately out of the race after contact with the #74 Orkasport car. With heavy damage to the car, we hope to see them back in action at the final round.
The stricken #77 KA brought out the safety car. Several teams across the grid opted to make early stops, including front-runners KaHoona’s and Kaston Martin.
At the restart, MilnAir made a move for the lead ahead of the #555 Sukaru. Further back, another safety car came out just a few laps later after the #85 Rustic car dramatically barrel-rolled out of the race. Thankfully, Adam Woods was unharmed in the accident.
During the second neutralisation, leaders MilnAir and Sukaru opted to pit, with the #555 team jumping their rivals as they emerged back on track. On the restart, AFK Racing made a move for first ahead of the then-leading #181 Team Shine.
MilnAir found themselves on the fringes of the top ten, whilst Sukaru were crucially in the top five as the race passed the first-hour mark.
The deficit did not trouble George Wright, who set fastest laps in pursuit of retaking the lead in his #46 MilnAir. A third safety car came out just over the hour-and-a-half mark after the #18 No Nonsense entry stopped at Knickerbrook after losing its rear-left wheel.
Moments before the safety car ended, leaders Sukaru made the decision to pit, putting them almost a lap behind the field on the restart. MilnAir had previously made the call to make two early stops and held a pit-stop advantage over the rest of the pack.
With two hours to go, Kaston Martin found themselves in the lead, with MilnAir catching in fourth after making their final stop. Sukaru’s strategy blunder was made worse when their #46 rivals, who had made an extra pit stop, passed them.
Another KA rolled over when the #2 NJM Racing Ltd ended its afternoon, resulting in another safety car with just over an hour to go. Dramatically, AFK, on the alternative strategy, had only made one of their three stops, whilst the rest of the field had completed theirs.
When they completed their stops, the #22 team found themselves with a staggering three-minute advantage. However, their advantage quickly disappeared when the rest of the field were allowed to catch up under the safety car.
With just one hour to go on the clock, the safety car allowed the field to continue racing, with MilnAir just nine seconds behind. Great pace from the returning Declan McDonnell saw him catch and pass AFK in a matter of a few laps, passing their rivals around the outside of Turn One.
The chequered flag came out around ten minutes prematurely due to the circuit’s 18:30 curfew, giving MilnAir their fourth win in a row. Sukaru and KaHoona’s made their way onto the podium ahead of AFK, whose podium dreams were dashed, forcing them to settle for fourth.
The final round of the season takes place in just under seven weeks’ time around the Indy 500 layout of Brands Hatch, with a thrilling eight-hour race set to conclude this year’s campaign.
Main image: Michael Jolley
