JAMIE OSBORNE BIDS TO EXTEND EARLY ADVANTAGE

The Vertu MINI CHALLENGE season resumes for the JCW and JCW Sport categories this weekend at Snetterton, with Jamie Osborne bidding to extend his early advantage at the head of the championship standings.

Osborne enjoyed a stunning start to the campaign at Donington Park last month as he powered his NAPA Racing-run car to three wins from three – making him the first driver to achieve that feat since 2018 when Ant Whorton-Eales picked up a hat-trick at Brands Hatch.

Although he has become regular front-runner in recent seasons, Osborne had only scored one win in the series since his debut and admitted he was himself surprised with his Donington success as he lay down an early marker in the title race.

Osborne has already bagged a 32 point lead in the standings after the opening weekend, with every point now counting after the removal of the dropped scores rule for this season.

Second to Osborne is Tom Ovenden, the man who scored pole at Donington Park. The EXCELR8 racer backed that up with two podiums from the three races and sits clear of Lewis Selby – who scored a pair of podiums himself from the opening weekend.

That means NAPA Racing UK also head the Teams’ standings going into round two.

Fourth and fifth in the standings are two drivers who failed to make it onto the podium at round one, but who picked up three strong results on their first weekends in JCW machinery.

A pair top of top six finishes – and two Rookie Cup wins – mean Jacob Hodgkiss sits fourth in the points ahead of fellow rookie Albert Webster, who was the man to beat at Snetterton in JCW Sport last season.

As well as being new drivers to the class, the pair are also running with teams who are competing in the category for the first time in the shape of Race Car Consultants and JRW Motorsport.

Marlo Cordell rounds out the top six having scored podiums in the first two races of the campaign, before an unfortunate puncture forced him to retire from race three of the opener.

Having celebrated his birthday on the eve of the race weekend, Cordell will look to try and challenge for a first win, with pre-season favourite Nathan Edwards, Cameron Richardson, Harry Campey and Josh Porter completing the early top ten.

Edwards in particular will hope for a stronger weekend than at Donington Park to kickstart his challenge for the title whilst outside the top ten, Harry Hickton and Max Edmundson are amongst the drivers who will look to secure the kind of results that their pace deserves after mixed fortunes in round one.

In JCW Sport, Henry Howarth leads the early standings thanks to two wins at Donington Park, with only a penalty in race two preventing him from bagging a hat-trick of his own.

The Jamsport driver heads second year racer Ben Crossley in the standings with Archie Johnson – the other victor at Donington Park – sitting in third.

Chris MacKenzie, Will Crooks and Nicky Gauci round out the class entry.