SAM GORNALL WINS ACTION-PACKED DONINGTON FINALE

Sam Gornall secured victory in an action-packed final race of the weekend for the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy at Donington Park, with the race being delayed until the end of the programme following an earlier incident.

The initial attempt to run the race had been halted following an incident at the Old Hairpin on lap one which saw Joshua Wilby get out of shape and suffer a spin before he was collected by both Callum Eason and John Castle.

The damage sustained would put Wilby and Castle out of race three, with Wilby also requiring a trip to hospital for precautionary scans before he was released to return to the paddock later in the evening.

With the race being put back due to the need to keep to time for ITV’s BTCC coverage, the field lined up with Alex Keens on pole and although he held the lead off the line, he was soon overhauled by Rhys Hurd – who had won race one on Saturday before retiring from the Sunday morning encounter.

Initially it was Reece Lycett who was putting on pressure at the front and he grabbed the lead briefly on lap three before Hurd reclaimed top spot, with a huge gaggle of cars involved in the battle behind for the podium places.

Astonishingly, that group of cars included Harry Hickton, who had qualified back in 20th spot but was running inside the top ten by the end of the opening lap after a storming start.

Using the outside line at Coppice on more than one occasion, Hickton worked his way right to the front when he grabbed the lead from Hurd at the Esses on lap six only to then lose the place immediately – with Gabe Fairbrother also getting at that point into second spot.

Hickton would then run wide at McLeans to drop back down to fifth, as Hurd, Fairbrother and Gornall diced for the win.

Gornall went from third to first on the eighth lap, following Fairbrother past Hurd at turn one and then taking the lead at the Esses from Fairbrother.

From that point on, Gornall would somehow remain out front to grab the victory as he cemented his place at the top of the points at the end of the weekend.

“It was an amazing race and I’m so happy to come out on top,” Gornall said. “Every lap and every corner, the positions were changing, but I managed to get the gap at the front when it mattered.”

Fairbrother held on to second until the final lap when Hurd was able to get back ahead to take the flag in second spot, but he was then hit with a penalty post-race for contact with Hickton – dropping him down to fourth in the results.

It meant Fairbrother would be classified in second spot, with Hickton rounding out the podium places after an impressive comeback to go with his reverse grid win.

“It’s a fantastic result, but it could have been even more,” he said. “We had brilliant pace this weekend but the issue in qualifying was our undoing. I showed great race craft to come through the field like I did and these points could be crucial for us in the championship standings.”

James Black and Harvey Riby took the flag in fifth and sixth ahead of Lycett and top rookie Ronnie Smith, with Keens slipping back to ninth at the end.

Showing how competitive the battle at the front had been, those top nine were covered by under four seconds, with a larger gap covering Keens and tenth placed Leo Purches, who enjoyed one of his best races of the season. Ben Taylor took top directors honours in eleventh.

Championship contender Alex Solley was amongst those to suffer disappointment from the race, being forced to pull off and retire after just three laps.