Saunders smashed his own outright record at the Torteval Hill Climb with a 23.56sec. run in the same Reynard 893 race car that he has been trying to sell for a significant chunk of the season.
Having now decided to keep his expensive drive for ‘another few years’, he instead took advice from a friend in the UK and tinkered with it throughout the day, which paid off as he broke his own mark by 0.42sec. on his very last run of the 2026 season.
This was far from the only record set in a brilliant day out at an event otherwise known as the Imperial Hill Climb, where conditions were great and competitors got up to six timed runs.
‘I had a list of set-up changes to do as the day went on,’ Saunders said.
‘We did not expect anything from the day, just to get preparation for next year, so to come away with the new outright record by quite a bit was a surprise.
‘I really did not expect to get the record – very pleasing to break it.’
Saunders had led for most of the day, getting into the low 24s on three occasions before all clicked into place for that particularly speedy sixth run.
Racing Cars 1,101 to 1,600 class rival Tim Tulie settled for second-quickest overall with his 24.79 achieved earlier in the day.
Remarkably, top woman Emma Rayson managed to place in the top three overall.
Her 25.24 on the fourth run stood as an outright women’s record and put her within reach of Tulie’s Racing Cars 601 to 1,100cc class mark.
However, her continued push ended on a low note when she crashed out on the final run. She bounced back with medical attention but left her prized Empire 00 in a bad state.
Simon Carre went next-quickest with a 26.13, following on his clean-sweep of the Alderney weekend.
Yet not much separated him from the in-form Declan Brehaut (26.25) and seasoned campaigner Tim Torode (26.28).
Saunders had proved relatively dominant in his last hill climb of the season, having otherwise been run significantly closer by his main rivals, with Steve Brehaut and Matt Bougourd tasting victory at Le Val des Terres events.
‘It’s great that the guys are a bit closer now – it makes it a bit more exciting for everybody,’ Saunders added.
‘I will have to really sort myself out for next year.
‘We did a lot of changes on Saturday and next year is going to be exciting.
‘I’ve probably only got half the power the other guys have now.’
The top karters were also flying.
Adam Law featured prominently in the overall standings and managed to lower Riley Carre’s Senior Gearbox KZ mark to 26.50.
Yet brother Chris kept on the pressure and smashed the Senior Gearbox 250cc Mono mark set by Simon Lanyon five years prior, coming away with a 27.68 best.
Josh Bishop, with his best of 30.77, took the Senior Rotax Max record from Emma Snell.
Callum Queripel joined the club of outright record-holders in producing the fastest time of any saloon driver – on his Torteval debut no less.
The Subaru Impreza driver was under Nick Read’s Modified Limited Production Cars 2,001cc and over record of 29.70 from the first timed run.
He posted two 29s to start before, after truly getting to grips with the racing line, posting a 27.85 and then later slashing that to 27.45.
Phil Brehaut and his powerful Westfield managed to chip away at his own record in the unlimited Modified Specialist Production Cars, peaking with 28.26 on the last run.
The in-vogue Modified Limited Production Cars 1,401 to 2,000 class featured 12 competitors and had Adam Le Page taking the bragging rights with a 28.77 finale.
Kieran Power joined the record-breakers with a 29.20 in the Sports Libra Saloons 1,401 to 2,000s, beating Ben Mills’ best by a full 2.01sec.
Additionally, Andrew Robilliard took a near-2sec. chunk out of John Eborall’s nine-year-old Sports Libra Saloon Rally 2WD 1,401 to 1,600 mark with a 31.81.
On two wheels, bike veteran Colin de Jersey went well within his existing record only to have his thunder stolen by young Jamie Bacon.
Bacon set the pace throughout the day in a quality Motorcycles 351 to 500 class but, after ducking under 27sec. in the middle of his series, produced a stunning finale of 26.85.
That put him 0.24sec. inside the top time produced by de Jersey, who had gone in with the outright motorbikes best of 27.76 from two years prior.
Fellow youngster Casey Mackrell also went within the old mark with his 27.35 at the end of a progressively faster series.
In the 251 to 350 class, Ethan Brehaut produced a fast finale to get the better of Luke Saunders narrowly – 28.13 to 28.22 – but both went under Owen Poynder’s record from 2021.
Thomas Scott won the 126 to 250 class, his 28.38 being a mere hundredth slower than Andy Mechem’s record.
The new 125s class was also a tale of fine margins as AJ Gregg posted 28.45, edging out Harry Mann by just 0.04sec.
Jez Mann lowered his own record in the scooters to 30.90, a 0.40sec. improvement on two years ago.
