Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy Decided At The Death
The six-way fight to secure top honours in the 2024 Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy went right to the wire at Brands Hatch as Harry Hickton successfully overhauled team-mate Sam Gornall to lift the title.
Westbourne Motorsport driver Gornall had been the man to beat going into the weekend with Hickton as his closest challenger, but Alex Solley, James Black, Gabe Fairbrother and Alex Keens all retained a mathematical chance of emerging from the final three races on top of the standings.
Race 1:
Points leader Gornall lined up on pole for race one and held the lead at the start before the action was halted following a multi-car incident at Paddock Hill Bend that left three cars needing to be recovered.
Things went wrong for Gornall on the restart however as he suffered clutch failure on his way to the line, which forced him to line up stuck in third gear. Slow away when the lights went out as a result, he plummeted down the order, which opened the door for his title rivals to close the gap in the championship standings.
James Black duly raced his way to an impressive second victory of the campaign ahead of Fairbrother and Keens, with Hickton taking fourth spot to close in on Gornall at the top.
The poleman himself had dropped right to the back of the field having also got tangled up in a clash with Cameron Wood and Ben Taylor at Druids, but a number of penalties handed out post-race resulted in him being classified in 13th place in the results.
Race 2:
The top eight on the grid were reversed for the second race of the weekend to put youngster Leo Purches at the head of the field, but he was slow away at the start to lose his advantage and was then involved in an incident at the start of lap two when he was tagged by Ashley Gregory at turn one.
The end result was a trip into the gravel for the teenager were his car ended up going into a roll against the barriers to once again force officials to halt the race.
Rookie Cup winner Ronnie Smith was the earlier leader on the restart before being overhauled by Hickton and Fairbrother, who were dicing for top spot when they clashed at Surtees and took a trip across the grass – with Hickton then collecting Smith as he came back across the circuit.
It gave Hickton a puncture as Black stormed past from fourth into the lead and it looked like the Graves Motorsport man could be able to close right in on the championship lead before the race was again halted due to Katia Loggie’s car being in a dangerous place at Paddock Hill Bend, and Fairbrother going off at Graham Hill Bend after contact with Solley.
The result was therefore taken from the previous completed lap which put Hickton back into first spot ahead of Fairbrother before the latter was given a penalty that dropped him down to fifth – meaning it was Smith and Black who completed the podium.
With Gornall taking the flag in eighth spot, Hickton therefore took the points lead going into the final race of the campaign.
Race 3:
Hickton had topped the times in qualifying which meant he was guaranteed at least six points from the race and also had a drop score in his back pocket in the event that things went wrong and he was forced to retire.
As it was, Hickton found himself firmly embroiled in the fight for victory throughout the race, although was Gornall who eventually emerged victorious having grabbed the lead just after the half-way stage from Black.
Hickton had followed his team-mate through to take second spot but would drop behind Fairbrother on the final lap, with third being enough to wrap up the title by just two points – with Black just behind in fourth.
Gornall had to settle for winning the Graduate Cup, with the Directors Cup going to Taylor after the race one incident ruled Manning out of the remainder of the weekend.