Trio Share Silverstone Wins In Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy
Rhys Hurd, James Black and Sam Gornall all took victory in the latest rounds of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy as the Cooper grid battled the elements at Silverstone.
Poor weather conditions would have an impact on two of the three races that took place on the penultimate weekend of action this season, but Hurd’s victory in race one came on a largely dry circuit.
The Chandler Motorsport man had started from third on the grid but quickly battled his way to the front for his fifth win of the campaign – marking the fourth successive weekend on which he had won the opening race.
Hurd was chased for much of the race by Luca Marinoni Osborne until an attempted move for the lead saw him slip down the order, allowing rookie Olivier Algieri to take second spot ahead of Gabe Fairbrother – who had earlier topped the times in qualifying.
Race two on Sunday morning was held in treacherous conditions with Black lining up on reverse grid pole, retaining his lead at the start before the safety car was called to recover the car of Warren Scibberas from the gravel.
Only a handful of laps were possible before a collision involving Harvey Riby and Josh Wilby saw the race red-flagged, enabling Black to celebrate his first MINI CHALLENGE win ahead of Fairbrother and Alex Solley.
Fairbrother was unable to maximise being on pole for race three as he was shuffled down the order, with points leader Gornall instead emerging as a dominant winner as he headed a 1-2-3-4 for the Westbourne Motorsport team.
Gornall took top spot ahead of Algieri and Marinoni Osborne, with Harry Hickton in fourth slipping further behind Gornall in the standings.
Just one weekend is left to run at Brands Hatch in early November.