Bradley has the pace to challenge

Motorsport: Gravett shows good race pace in difficult circumstances

Maidenhead's Bradley Gravett showed why he's amongst the favourites for this season's Vertu Mini Challenge series after once again showing impressive pace in challenging circumstances at Donington Park this weekend.

Bradley, the son of former

BTCC champion Robb, is embarking on his fourth season in this competitive series having resigned for the EXCELR8 Motorsport squad.

He's going into this summer's races with high hopes of building on a solid campaign in 2023 which saw him secure his first career podium and finish inside the top six.

With only limited pre-season practice to acclimatise to the specification changes made to his JCW car for 2024, Bradley was unsure what to expect heading into the first meeting of the season.

But he and the pit crew will have been pleasantly surprised by the race pace shown over the course of the weekend. He used Thursday's testing to gain as much knowledge as possible to take into qualifying and the weekend's races.

Although just half a second down on pole position, Bradley qualified in 10th place for race three, with his second-best lap putting him in P9 for the opening race on Saturday afternoon.

However, Bradley wasted little time in moving up the order when the lights went out. He quickly moved into fifth spot ahead of an incident with JCW Sport racer Albert Webster which briefly halted the race. He then retained his position when the race restarted, and he also managed to set the fastest lap to secure six handy bonus points.

Heavy rain overnight played havoc with Sunday's schedule and led to the reverse grid second race being cancelled with hopes of running it later in the season.

As a result, Bradley lined up in 10th place again for the final race of the weekend, which took place in tricky wet conditions.

The Maidenhead driver spent much of the race dicing for position with Nelson King before a clash on the final lap saw him run off into the gravel. He rejoined to take the flag in 14th place and was 11th in his class.

The setback leaves Bradley fifth in the championship standings ahead of the second meeting of the season at Brands Hatch.

“Coming into the opening weekend, I wasn’t really too sure what to expect as we have a new map on the engine this season that we’d only been able to try out once at Snetterton,” he said. “The car felt quick on the day but there was no-one out with us and we didn’t know where we stood as a result, and then I didn’t get the best of the car in the qualifying.

“The new map does make quite a big difference and has made the car slower, and I was over-revving it during the session which meant we would be down in ninth and tenth on the two grids - which was lower than I was hoping for.

“However, the pace in race one was strong and at one stage I was up in fourth and pushing for the podium, so it was a good way to start things off - particularly when you also add in the fastest lap. Sunday was hugely frustrating with the weather conditions, and it was a massive shame to lose a race because of the rain. We should have been fifth on the grid for that one so could have been in the fight for a podium finish, but instead had to settle for tenth on the start for the finale. Things didn’t quite go to plan in that one after the late contact, but the important thing is that we scored solid points across the two races and have something to build on as we look ahead to Brands Hatch next time out."