Swift and Rogerson Triumph in Action-Packed Audi Cup Donington Double

The Audi Cup – Rounds 8 & 9
Donington Park – 8th & 9th August 2026

The fledgling Audi Cup enjoyed its most spectacular outing yet at Donington Park last weekend (8-9 August), with two action-packed races for the growing grid of identical Audi TTs.

Carl Swift became the fourth different winner of the season in the opening contest before Andrew Rogerson responded with his fourth victory of 2026.

 

Qualifying

On only his second appearance of the season, Carl Swift secured another pole position with a terrific early 91.60mph marker. He was unable to improve upon that, admitting that he ended up pushing too hard at Redgate.

Snetterton double winner Andrew Rogerson chipped away at Swift’s advantage and finished just 0.05 seconds shy of denying Swift a second consecutive pole position.

Row two would be filled by 4G Racing team-mates Ross Makar and Sam Meagher, Makar in particular frustrated to be nearly four tenths off Swift’s ultimate pace.

A late improvement lifted Mike Harris to fifth fastest, ahead of the third 4G entry of Patrick Booth and Iain Dowler.

After sitting out Snetterton, Harrison Folley returned with a very smart looking car to qualify eighth overall, just 0.02s ahead of Ruby Smith.

Mark Jenkins, brother of British Truck Racing Championship frontrunner Dave Jenkins, qualified 10th on his debut in the series.

DONINGTON PARK QUALIFYING RESULT

Round 8 – Race Report

Swift led away from pole position but he could not shake off the attentions of Rogerson, who was keen to make an early move for the lead.

Rogerson relentlessly harried Swift, as Makar and Meagher closed up to the battling pair. After probing on multiple occasions, Rogerson forced Swift into a slight mistake at Coppice that allowed him to cut underneath and take the lead on lap five of 12.

But no sooner had he hit the front, Rogerson made his own mistake at the chicane, which let Swift back ahead.

Once back in front, Swift resumed his tactic of encouraging the chasers to put pressure on Rogerson. It paid off with the decisive moment occurring at the end of the following lap. Swift showed Rogerson to the outside line at the chicane and that allowed the two 4G cars behind to pounce.

In a fantastic piece of racecraft, fourth-placed Meagher seized the opportunity to jump from fourth to second in one move, while team-mate Makar lost out and was shuffled back to fourth.

The exchange gave Swift the breathing space he needed to reel off the remaining laps and clinch victory by four seconds.

Rogerson got back past Meagher at the Old Hairpin to secure second, leaving his fellow Pembrey winner third.

Makar looked set to finish a comfortable fourth when he uncharacteristically spun into the gravel; his battery cable had disconnected itself just before the braking zone, leaving him with no power-steering or brake servo power.

So the third 4G entry of Booth inherited fourth ahead of Dowler, with Smith completing the top six. Folley recovered from an early tangle with Jenkins to finish seventh, with Harris eighth.

DONINGTON PARK RACE ONE RESULT

 

Round 9 – Race Report

The grid for Sunday’s second race featured a reversal of the top-six finishing order from the earlier contest, putting Smith on pole position with Dowler alongside.

A good start from row two by Booth helped him past Dowler, and he then passed Smith for the lead at the Old Hairpin. From row three of the grid, Rogerson was flying and he followed Booth through to take second, before Smith spun into the gravel at McLeans.

Rogerson completed his charge from fifth to first within a lap by passing Booth into the chicane.

Behind the lead pair, Meagher was running third and Dowler fourth as Swift had to battle back from running wide through the Redgate gravel on the opening lap. It wouldn’t be the only trouble the earlier race winner experienced.

Meantime, Dowler – one of a number of former MG racers on the grid – was getting into his stride. He passed Meagher for third into the Old Hairpin on lap two of 12, then snatched second from Booth at the chicane on the next tour.

Swift’s recovery appeared to be going well as he executed a terrific series of moves. Having taken fourth from Meagher, he got a run on Booth out of the chicane to grab third, then cut back inside Dowler to snatch second at Redgate.

But it was all for nothing as Swift then dramatically slowed. His car had dropped into limp mode, limiting its turbo boost. It was a recurrent problem temporarily solved by a reset which allowed Swift to make forward progress once more, only to strike again. Swift still had time to fire in the race’s fastest lap but eventually limped home in sixth.

By that stage, Makar had joined Dowler, Meagher in Booth in the fantastic battle for second. With Rogerson pulling away en route to victory by an eventual 5.7s margin, Dowler and Meagher traded the position a number of times.

It boiled down to the last lap, when Dowler dived past Meagher at Coppice only to run wide. That allowed Meagher back into second, with Makar also coming through. They crossed the line in that order but Makar and Dowler had both picked up 5s track-limits penalties, which promoted Booth to third.

Behind Swift, Harris was seventh and Jenkins eighth.

The Audi Cup’s inaugural non-championship series now takes a break for a few weeks. Its season reaches a conclusion at the challenging Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire on 3 October.

 

DONINGTON PARK RACE TWO RESULT

 

Driver Quotes

Round 8 winner Carl Swift

“I had five of them sat on my bumper, and drove like the most annoying person in the world – to the regs, obviously! I bunched them all up until they started fighting and then found a gap and went.

“Andy [Rogerson] was too feisty in the first couple of laps to try and beat him on pace alone.”

Round 9 winner Andrew Rogerson

“Pat [Booth] raced hard and I just got a little bit of a better run than him onto the back straight.

“When I saw Carl [Swift] coming through, I’m thinking, ‘They’re all going to be battling now, so let’s just see what happens.’ That’s what gave me my gap, them battling.”

 

Next time – Oulton Park: The Season Finale