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You are here: Home | News, Events & Advice | Two 4ths, a 5th and a 6th: the Pumaspeed #11 Fiesta ST150 comes good at Snetterton
Two 4ths, a 5th and a 6th: the Pumaspeed #11 Fiesta ST150 comes good at Snetterton
Two 4ths, a 5th and a 6th: the Pumaspeed #11 Fiesta ST150 comes good at Snetterton
Daniel McQuire started his first season of BRSCC racing at the back of the grid at Brands Hatch in April. Six rounds later, at the four-race Snetterton 300 weekend, the blue Pumaspeed-backed Fiesta ST150 finished every race inside the top six and twice crossed the line fourth, one of them 1.2 seconds off the win. This is the story of the first season so far, the bad weekends included.
The Durley Garage Fiesta ST150 Challenge is close, cheap-to-run club racing at its best: identical Mk6 Fiesta ST150s built to tight regulations and full grids every round. The blue #11 is the Pumaspeed car.
The car and the championship
The Durley Garage Fiesta ST150 Challenge is one of the BRSCC's most popular one-make series. Every car is a Mk6 Fiesta ST150 built to the same regulations, with no room for exotic parts, which is exactly why the racing is so close: finishing margins of a few tenths are normal and the top four at Snetterton were covered by just over a second.
Daniel McQuire's car is the blue #11: a BRSCC-spec Fiesta ST150 mapped by Pumaspeed and Maxdout, on GAZ suspension and Nankang AR-1 tyres with 7x15 Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 wheels, both of which are available from the Pumaspeed website. It runs in the Fiesta ST150 Challenge class, and 2026 is Daniel's first season in the championship.
Left: the #11 waiting for the lights. Right: the rear view, with Pumaspeed and Nankang on the tailgate. Nankang AR-1 tyres and Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 wheels, both available from Pumaspeed.
The season so far, warts and all
Brands Hatch Indy, 11-12 April. The first weekend was a lesson rather than a result. Daniel qualified 16th and finished 16th in both races, a shade over a second a lap off pole in qualifying on a circuit where a 58-second lap leaves nowhere to hide. Thirteen laps in race one and sixteen in race two were, in hindsight, the most useful laps of the year: the first racing miles in the car, and the first time he had been elbow-to-elbow with a full grid of Fiestas into Paddock Hill Bend.
Silverstone Grand Prix, 15-17 May. The ST150s shared a grid with the faster Fiesta ST240s at the BRSCC 24 Hour weekend, so the overall positions tell you little. In class, Daniel qualified fourth and raced to second in race one, gaining seven places from his grid slot, before fourth in class in race two. Two solid points scores on the full GP layout.
Donington Park, 6-7 June. The breakthrough. From 13th on the grid Daniel climbed six places to finish seventh in race one, then took eighth in race two. Race three was the first bad one: he started eighth and retired after seven of the eleven laps. A DNF at a round with three races stings twice.
Oulton Park International, 11 July. Seventh from tenth on the grid in race one, and then the first top-four of his career: fourth in race two, having started seventh. The car was now officially entered as "Fiesta ST150 - Pumaspeed" on the timing sheets.
Cadwell Park, 8-9 August. Another fourth, this time from eighth on the grid on the narrow, unforgiving Lincolnshire circuit, and then the second DNF of the year. Starting fourth in race two, Daniel was out after six of the nine laps. Two retirements in four races was a reminder that finishing is half the job.
Snetterton 300, 19-20 September: four races, four top-six finishes
The autumn weekend at Snetterton was the biggest of the year, with four races on the 2.97-mile 300 circuit. Daniel qualified ninth of the eighteen cars with a 2:23.817, just over two seconds off Daniel Robinson's pole time. That put him mid-pack for Saturday's opening race, and the next 26 laps turned into the best weekend of his season.
All times from the official TSL Timing classifications. Race 4 result as amended by the Clerk of the Course.
Four races, four finishes, every one of them inside the top six, and comfortably the biggest points haul of his season. The race-four result is the one that shows what is possible: the top four were covered by 1.2 seconds after 20 miles of racing, and Daniel's fastest lap was within six tenths of the fastest lap of the race.
Daniel strapped in and ready to go. One round, Silverstone International on 10-11 October, is left to run.
What we have learned
The trend over the year is the point of this story. Qualifying at the stand-alone ST150 rounds went 16th, 13th, 10th, 8th and 9th. Race results went from a pair of 16ths at Brands Hatch to top-eight finishes at Donington, a fourth at Oulton Park, a fourth at Cadwell and then 5-4-6-4 across the Snetterton weekend. In a series where every car is mechanically the same, that progression is all driver, and it is why Pumaspeed backs the car.
The two DNFs are the other half of the lesson. Both came in the last race of a weekend with the car in a strong position, and both cost a heap of points: he sits just 14 points behind seventh place after drops. Finishing races is what the final round at Silverstone International is about.
Racing an ST150, or thinking about it? The Nankang AR-1 tyres and Team Dynamics wheels the #11 races on are on the website, and the Pumaspeed workshop at 178 Batley Road, Wakefield knows the Mk6 Fiesta ST150 inside out. Call 01924 360002 or follow @pumaspeed on Instagram for Silverstone updates.
Shop Fiesta ST150 parts and the tyres and wheels the #11 races on:
Nankang AR-1 225/45 ZR15 → Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 7x15 → Pumaspeed Racing ST150 brake discs → All Fiesta ST150 parts → Meet the team → All Pumaspeed news & features →
