top of page
Search

BRANDS HATCH FINALE

Last weekend we packed up and made the last trip of the year to Brands Hatch for the final three rounds of MINI CHALLENGE UK. After securing the ROOKIE Championship in the previous round in Donnington I had my eyes set on third in the overall championship which was a big task with a 50 point deficit, but who doesn’t love a bit of ambition! After two fastest laps and a podium in Donnington I knew our pace was right where it needed to be and my confidence was right there on the lead up to the final round’s.


The forecast for Fridays testing was rain, and rain it did! The track was beyond damp almost all day and I felt right at home in the conditions. All morning I was setting some seriously competitive times and I was really comfortable with how the car was reacting. Just before the end of the last session there was a dry line revealing itself so I swapped out the wet tyres for slicks for twenty minutes before testing finished. The car was a bit tricky on slicks with our wet setup but with torrential rain forecast for the whole weekend I wasn’t too concerned.



First up on Saturday was qualifying and as expected the track was wet and greasy, just what I was hoping for. We had tried the same tyre combo that set quickest laps in the rain in Donnington but unfortunately it didn’t seem to work on the greasy Brands Hatch tarmac. I pushed on as much as I could and we finished up the session in P11. A little disappointing considering my pace in testing but at least we knew where to look to fix the problem.


Race one was next up for Saturday and with a different tyre combo bolted on I was hoping to make up some positions. Starting P11 I made a mega getaway from the line making up a position or two before turn one. I kept my head down for the 15 minute race and made up a further two positions to come across the line in P8 and ROOKIE winner. This meant I would start the first race on Sunday from 8th and that left me with some work to do.


There was torrential downpours overnight and it looked like the weather wasn’t going to improve all day Sunday. Starting race two from 8th I wanted to move into the top six to be in with a chance of a reverse grid pole. The conditions were treacherous with steams flowing across the track and visibility was practically zero. A decision was made to start the race under safety car which wasn’t ideal for progress as I couldn’t make any places off the line. The slightly shortened race kicked off and I got to work straight away. Despite the conditions I moved through the field to finish the race in 5th and ROOKIE winner. With the top 6 being reversed for race 3 I would start 2nd for race three.


Race three kicked off for the last time this season and it was again started under safety car. I had a good first two laps putting a couple of moves on for the lead. After this though I was getting caught by the cars behind and ended up driving defensive. I didn’t have the pace in these conditions as the drivers behind and I fell slightly down the order to finish the race in 5th with another ROOKIE win. It’s a shame I didn’t have the pace in race three to be fighting for the lead but another top 5 finish is nothing to complain about.



The season really flew by this year. It feels like only yesterday I was heading to Mondello Park for my first test in the MINI and now 20 rounds later here we are. What an unbelievable debut season its been with 19 ROOKIE wins, 3 fastest laps, 3 overall podiums and a wealth of knowledge gained at some of the UK’s top race circuits.


I would like to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey; My loyal sponsors, my family and team. So much time and effort goes into racing and I am delighted to be able to achieve the results with them.

" Ní bhíonn an rath, ach mar a mbíonn an smacht"

"There is no prosperity unless there is discipline"


7 views0 comments

Comments

bottom of page