COOPER CREW JOIN THE BTCC PARTY AT BRANDS HATCH

The Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy heads for Brands Hatch this weekend, with a field of 23 cars preparing to do battle in the second round of the season.

On the back of the season opener at Snetterton, this weekend if the first of the three events in which the Cooper field will race alongside the BTCC and is one of two visits to the famous Kent circuit this year – with the final round being held alongside the British Truck Racing Championship in November.

Joshua Wilby, Leo Purches and Rhys Hurd shared the wins when the season kicked off last month, with Purches emerging as the man to beat in the standings coming into this weekend.

The teenager was on fine form in Norfolk to establish the early points lead for Graves Motorsport, and he will hope to maintain his early form at a venue where he produced some of the most competitive performances of his rookie campaign last year.

In fact, it was Brands Hatch where Purches bagged his best result of the 2024 campaign with an eighth place finish in the opening race, which he could have bettered in race two had he not got caught up in a dramatic incident at the start.

Purches has a slender lead over Ashley Gregory, who marked herself out as a title contender having been a front runner throughout the opening weekend.

The only female racer on the grid this season made no secret of her desire to try and push for championship honours on her return to the series, and will look to continue the solid run of form she has displayed since switching to a new car in the latter part of 2024.

Like Purches, her best result of 2024 came on the Brands Hatch Indy layout, with Gregory now bidding to try and break onto the top step to edge ahead of her rival in the title race.

Top rookie Harry Smith is two points further back in third place for Chandler Motorsport having also bagged a podium at round one, with the Junior Saloon Car champion just edging ahead of James Sherrington to lead the newcomers.

Sherrington also took a top three finish on his debut weekend having shown impressive race pace, and heads the Westbourne Motorsport challenge ahead of his most experienced team-mates.

Showing the highly competitive nature of the field, Alfie Garford – another rookie – sits in fifth spot to make it five different teams in the top five positions; with the youngster representing the Wera Alliance Racing Academy.

Westbourne duo Luca Marinoni Osborne and Hurd sit just behind, with Hurd having recovered from a retirement earlier in the weekend to score his first win of the campaign in the Snetterton finale on his first weekend with the team.

The top ten is completed by Henry Foote, Alex Keens and Paul Manning – who is the oldest driver competing in the MINI CHALLENGE this season. Manning scored a strong top ten finish and will look to avoid a repeat of the dramatic incident that saw him forced out of the finale last year and ended his Directors Cup challenge.

Snetterton race winner Wilby sits back in twelfth having been forced to retire from the second race of the opening meeting and is sandwiched between two more drivers who would expect to be higher up the order in the shape of Gabe Fairbrother and Ronnie Smith.

Pre-season title favourite Fairbrother will look to continue his fightback from a DNF in the opening race of the year, which came after he enjoyed a 100 per cent finishing record last year, whilst Smith also suffered a retirement at Snetterton that leaves the reigning Rookie champion playing catch-up.

It’s a similar story for Olivier Algieri, who bagged pole at Snetterton but then suffered two retirements in the races to leave him in an unrepresentative 21st place – and needing a strong performance this weekend to close in on the leading pack.

Whilst the field is once again made up of 23 cars, there is a change to the entry list with Jamie Keates having curtailed his programme with Westbourne Motorsport following the opening round.

Murray Richardson however makes his series debut this weekend with Wera Alliance Academy Racing in the first of a number of planned outings this season.