MINI CHALLENGE Trophy Field Star At Donington
The Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy season resumed in dramatic fashion at Donington Park with three different winners from the three races in the East Midlands.
The Donington meeting was the second for the Cooper class cars alongside the British Touring Car Championship and marked a return to action for the first time since Thruxton in June after a long summer break.
Qualifying was headed by Alex Keens as he snared his second pole position of the campaign for race three, although it was Alex Solley who lined up at the front for the opening race – where the grid was determined by second quickest qualifying laps.
Solley wouldn’t feature in the battle for victory however, as Rhys Hurd instead battled his way to a third win in four starts for Chandler Motorsport after emerging at the front of a race-long battle with Sam Gornall and Reece Lycett.
Points leader Harry Hickton started back in 19th spot after an ABS issue in qualifying but was able to battle his way through to tenth place before gaining a further spot post-race when Gabe Fairbrother was hit with a penalty.
That put him on pole for the second race, where Hickton was able to lead the way from start-to-finish to take the win ahead of James Black and Lycett, with Hurd’s bid to secure a second win of the weekend being ended by contact on the opening lap that saw him go off into the tyre wall at the Esses.
Race three would be red-flagged after a lap one incident that saw Joshua Wilby spin at the Old Hairpin before being collected by John Castle and Callum Eason, putting all three into retirement and leaving Wilby requiring a trip to hospital for precautionary scans.
The restart would be delayed until the end of the day, with those fans who remained trackside being treated to a race for the ages that featured multiple lead changes as the field fought hard for victory.
Gornall would ultimately emerge on top ahead of Hurd and Fairbrother, although arguably the star drive came from Hickton as he charged through the field to cross the line in fourth spot having at one point made it all the way to the front.
Post race, Hurd was handed a penalty that dropped him behind Hickton in the results, meaning the Westbourne Motorsport man was able to retain a slender lead in the championship standings.