MENDLESHAM racing driver Richard Ince has just completed the most successful season of his racing career with World Cup glory in sunny Portugal. Racing his V8-engined Radical SR8 with co-driver Austin Kinsella, Ince completed an amazing turnaround to transform a season fraught with technical problems.

MENDLESHAM racing driver Richard Ince has just completed the most successful season of his racing career with World Cup glory in sunny Portugal.

Racing his V8-engined Radical SR8 with co-driver Austin Kinsella, Ince completed an amazing turnaround to transform a season fraught with technical problems.

After numerous engine failures in the first half of the season, the last nine races yielded seven firsts, one second and a third, as the team chased for honours in two championships.

Competing in the UK Radical Enduro championship, the partnership was victorious in the first meeting of the season at Snetterton, but with the ongoing car problems subsequently struggled to put together a consistent run of results.

However, persistence paid off for the two and a brace of wins in the final UK double-header round at Donington in October gave them second place overall in the UK championship, only four points behind the winning team.

With six races over three double-header weekends the Radical World Cup visited Donington, the Grand Prix circuits at Spa in Belgium, and Estoril in Portugal.

Coming into the final round at Estoril over the Guy Fawkes weekend, Ince and Kinsella required maximum points to stand any chance of overall World Cup victory.

Neither driver had driven the circuit before, and with only an hour's testing and qualifying in the wet, the race itself was the first time Ince or Kinsella had driven the circuit in dry conditions.

Competition was fierce, including tgp Formula 1 frontrunner Rodrigo Gallego at his local circuit in an identical car.

However, after qualifying on pole position and a commanding win and fastest lap in race one, the drivers repeated the performance in race two to grab another race win and snatch World Cup victory by seventeen points.