RHYS HURD TAKES THIRD WIN IN FOUR IN DONINGTON OPENER

Rhys Hurd made it three wins in the last four Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy races after emerging at the front of a hectic opening encounter at Donington Park.

The Chandler Motorsport driver had picked up a double win in the previous meeting at Thruxton and was in fine form as he came through the field from eighth spot to secure a victory that strengthens his position inside the top ten of the championship standings.

Alex Solley had started the race from pole position and whilst he was able to retain his lead through the opening lap, he soon found himself dropping down the order, being overhauled by Reece Lycett, Gabe Fairbrother and Hurd on the second lap; Hurd having made a demon start to climb up into fourth by the end of lap one.

Hurd then hit the front by the end of lap three when he got ahead of the lead pair at the hairpin, with Sam Gornall also taking advantage of the squabbling to move through after Hurd into second spot, with Fairbrother and Lycett behind.

Hurd and Gornall were able to build a slender lead over Fairbrother but when he was then overhauled by Lycett, the fight for victory soon became a three way battle as Lycett raced up to the rear of the top two.

On lap nine, Lycett slipped up the inside of Gornall into McLeans and then grabbed the lead from Hurd at Coppice, only for his team-mate to fight back at the hairpin.

Gornall also launched an attack to reclaim second from Lycett going into the following lap but having grabbed the position going into Redgate, was unable to make a bid for the lead as Hurd wrapped up the victory.

“Coming to Donington, I expected to be near the front and was quite happy to have Sam behind me as we could push to get away,” he said. “Reece then joined in as well and I didn’t expect him to make the move for the lead, but I wasn’t having it because that was my win!”

Gornall took second for a result that allows him to hit the front in the championship standings, with Lycett forced to settle for third spot despite carrying damage to the rear of his car from mid-race contact on track.

“We’ve had some bad luck early on in the season but we’ve had a new engine fitted to the car and are where we should be,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d catch the top two, but when I did, I was able to get involved and it was a great battle to be part of.”

Outside the top three however, the positions would change throughout the race with Alex Keens – who had topped the times in qualifying – eventually emerging as best of the rest ahead of pole man Solley, who found himself roughed up in the pack and at one stage dropped down as low as seventh.

Fairbrother would be next across the line in sixth spot but would later be handed a four place penalty after stewards deemed that he had crowded championship leader Harry Hickton off the road as the pair battled for position.

That moved leading rookie Ronnie Smith up into sixth spot from Luca Marinoni Osborne, with the top ten completed by James Black, Hickton and Fairbrother.

That capped a solid fightback for Hickton, who had struggled in qualifying after an ABS issue and was forced to race through the field from 19th on the grid.

Only one of the 24 drivers failed to make it to the finish, with Leo Purches running wide into the gravel at Coppice three laps from the end.