RHYS HURD GRABS FIFTH WIN IN SILVERSTONE OPENER

Rhys Hurd’s strong form in the second half of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy season goes on after the Chandler Motorsport driver battled his way to a fifth victory of the season in the Silverstone opener.

The Chandler Motorsport man had started the race from third on the grid but managed to make up a spot on the opening lap when he edged his way ahead of front-row starter Luca Marinoni Osborne.

That left him second on the road behind championship leader Sam Gornall, with Hurd biding his time before launching a move for the lead going into Brooklands on lap five.

Hurd would remain out front to the finish to score race one victory for the fourth successive weekend, but he didn’t have it easy as Marinoni Osborne put him under pressure from behind having taken second from Gornall on lap eight.

Gornall had run wide out of Maggotts and was overhauled by his team-mate going into Brooklands, with Gabe Fairbrother and Harry Hickton also following through.

Hickton had started back in ninth spot having been given back one of the laps he had lost to track limits in qualifying – moving him up from 26th on the grid.

Hurd led as the pack squabbled behind until the penultimate lap when Marinoni Osborne tried to take the outside line into Maggotts to gain the inside line for Brooklands.

Unfortunately, the move failed to pay off and instead saw him plummet down the order as the field behind benefitted from him running off line.

As Hurd took the win, it was instead Olivier Algieri who emerged in second spot after jumping up three spots as Marinoni Osborne made his move for the lead. Behind him, Fairbrother took third for an important haul of points in the championship race.

“It was a controlled race but I could never relax,” Hurd said. “I managed to get ahead of Luca at the start and slotted in behind Sam, which had been our plan for the start. I got the lead from him and when Luca followed through, it was a case of defend, defend, defend to keep the position.

“I had to keep the car in the right place and when he went for the lead, it didn’t pay off. There was no contact between us and it was one of those situations like you see in karting where you have to go for it and sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Despite his loss of position earlier in the race, Gornall was able to come back through to take fourth place to maintain his lead in the championship ahead of Alex Solley in fifth, with Hickton ending up classified in sixth spot.

James Black, Alex Keens and Marinoni Osborne followed behind with the leading nine cars covered by little over two seconds at the chequered flag having run in a train throughout.

CJ Morgan then rounded out the top ten, albeit only because Harvey Riby was handed a ten second penalty for a start infringement that saw him slip to 14th, and Reece Lycett was handed a penalty for exceeding track limits that dropped him down to twelfth spot.

Only one driver failed to make the finish, with Katia Loggie bringing her car into the pits after twice spinning at Maggotts.