Plenty of drama in Mini races
MINI CHALLENGE TROPHY
A red flag in each of the Mini Challenge Cooper class contests meant there was not that much actual racing at Thruxton. But when the track was under green flag conditions the action was frenetic.
Ben Kasperczak initially led the opener, before briefly losing out to Dominic Wheatley and Leonardo Panayiotou, but Kasperczak soon reclaimed the lead when Panayiotou ran too deep into the Club chicane. Kasperczak took the win when the race was ended early after Bradley Gravett and Brendan Fitzgerald clattered into the Club barriers despite yellow flags flying.
Kasperczak and Archie O’brien – who was second in the opener – then had a ding-dong battle in race two, but this was halted after a horrible shunt for Clark Wells (see News). Alex Jay looked to have won the four-lap restart but cut the chicane to get ahead of Panayiotou – up from 22nd on the original grid – and was demoted to second.
An incredible move around the outside of a bunch of cars into the chicane netted Andrew Langley the win in the finale. Both Kasperczak and Harry Nunn led the race afterwards but another red flag – as the chicane was littered with Recticel stacks – meant they ended up second and eighth.